Oxytocin to modulate emotional processing in schizophrenia: A randomized, double-blind, cross-over clinical trial

What Was Tested

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

The aim of this study was to examine the effects of four months of treatment with intranasal oxytocin, in 31 patients with schizophrenia, on distinct aspects of social cognition.

Why It Was Studied

All patients underwent clinical and experimental assessment before treatment, four months after treatment and at the end of treatment.

Who Took Part

According to the abstract, 31 patients were involved.

The age groups tagged for this paper are adults, both men and women.

This was assessed using standardized and experimental tests in a randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled, cross-over trial.

How the Study Was Run

In design terms this was a randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled and crossover study.

The patients were allocated by chance, so the Oxytocin group and the comparison group should start out alike.

Blinding on both sides kept the patients and researchers unaware of who received Oxytocin.

The comparison arm used a placebo, so changes seen with Oxytocin could be set against what happens without it.

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

Social cognition abilities were assessed with the Mayer-Salovey-Caruso Emotional Intelligence Test (MSCEIT) and the Reading the Mind in the Eyes task (RMET).

What Was Measured

All patients underwent clinical and experimental assessment before treatment, four months after treatment and at the end of treatment.

Topics PubMed links to this paper include Cognition, Emotional Intelligence, Emotions, Facial Expression, Neuropsychological Tests, Oxytocin and Psychiatric Status Rating Scales.

The authors tagged it with the keywords Psychosis and Social cognition.

What This Means in Plain Language

The paper is a randomized, double-blind and placebo-controlled study of Oxytocin in 31 patients.

With fewer than 40 people, it is a small study, so it is better read as an early signal for further research than as a settled answer.

The publication is from 2016 (European neuropsychopharmacology : the journal of the European College of Neuropsychopharmacology), a journal based in Netherlands.

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