Modulation of interpersonal trust in borderline personality disorder by intranasal oxytocin and childhood trauma

What Was Tested

This randomized controlled trial paper looks at Oxytocin.

Borderline personality disorder (BPD) is characterized by interpersonal difficulties, whereby patients are negatively biased concerning the evaluation of others' trustworthiness.

Here, the researchers examined the effect of oxytocin on interpersonal behavior of BPD patients in a trust game, emphasizing the assessment of facial attractiveness of the patients' counterparts in the game, and patients' history of childhood trauma.

Who Took Part

PubMed indexes the participants as children, young adults, adults and middle-aged adults, both men and women.

Childhood trauma was evaluated using the Childhood Trauma Questionnaire (CTQ).

How the Study Was Run

The design is described as randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled and crossover.

Random assignment meant chance, not the researchers, decided who got Oxytocin and who got the comparison, which limits bias.

Neither the participants nor the staff measuring them knew who was on Oxytocin, so expectations could not easily colour the readings.

Some participants received a placebo instead of Oxytocin, giving a reference point.

In the crossover set-up each of the participants took both Oxytocin and the comparison in turn, acting as their own control.

What Was Measured

Borderline personality disorder (BPD) is characterized by interpersonal difficulties, whereby patients are negatively biased concerning the evaluation of others' trustworthiness.

Here, the researchers examined the effect of oxytocin on interpersonal behavior of BPD patients in a trust game, emphasizing the assessment of facial attractiveness of the patients' counterparts in the game, and patients' history of childhood trauma.

PubMed files the paper under topics including Beauty, Borderline Personality Disorder, Child Abuse, Oxytocics, Oxytocin and Trust.

What This Means in Plain Language

The paper is a randomized, double-blind and placebo-controlled study of Oxytocin.

The publication is from 2013 (Social neuroscience), a journal based in England.

More context: the Oxytocin compound page, all human trials.