Empathic accuracy and oxytocin after tryptophan depletion in adults at risk for depression

What Was Tested

The paper reports a study of Oxytocin, published as a randomized controlled trial.

Who Took Part

PubMed indexes the participants as young adults and adults, both men and women.

On two separate test days, participants ingested tryptophan-deficient and nutritionally balanced amino acid mixtures.

While watching, participants continuously rated how these people felt during the recounting.

How the Study Was Run

The researchers set it up as a randomized, double-blind and crossover study.

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

As a double-blind Oxytocin study, the assignments were hidden from both participants and investigators until the end.

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

Individuals with (FH+) and without (FH−) a family history of MDD participated in a randomized, double-blind, crossover study.

Six hours later, they performed an EA task, which involved watching videos of people recounting autobiographical emotional events.

Mood state was repeatedly assessed using the Positive Affect and Negative Affect Schedule and a series of visual analogue scales.

Blood samples obtained at baseline and 5 h after mixture ingestion were assessed for tryptophan and oxytocin levels.

What Was Measured

PubMed files the paper under topics including Affect, Brain, Depression, Emotions, Empathy, Oxytocin and Risk Factors.

What This Means in Plain Language

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

The abstract goes on to report its results in about 3 sentences; this page does not restate them, so read the paper for the findings and their limits.

The publication is from 2016 (Psychopharmacology), a journal based in Germany.

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