The Effects of Oxytocin on Craving, Mental Health Parameters, and Stress Hormones in Methamphetamine-Dependent Patients Undergoing Matrix Treatment Model: A Randomized, Double-Blind Clinical Trial

What Was Tested

This randomized controlled trial paper looks at Oxytocin and ACTH (Corticotropin).

Hence, the present study was designed to evaluate the effects of OXT on craving, mental health (depression and anxiety), and stress hormones (ACTH and cortisol) in METH-dependent patients undergoing matrix treatment model (MTM), an intensive outpatient approach for stimulant abuse treatment.

Why It Was Studied

Recent studies report that oxytocin (OXT) has potential therapeutic properties in drug dependence.

Who Took Part

Clinical and biochemical parameters were measured at baseline and end of trials in METH-dependent patients.

How the Study Was Run

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

A placebo (an inactive look-alike) gave the Oxytocin group a baseline to be compared against.

What Was Measured

Topics PubMed links to this paper include Adrenocorticotropic Hormone, Amphetamine-Related Disorders, Craving, Hydrocortisone, Mental Health, Methamphetamine and Oxytocin.

The authors tagged it with the keywords ACTH, Cortisol and Matrix treatment model.

What This Means in Plain Language

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

Its findings take up roughly 4 sentences of the abstract and are left out here on purpose; the source paper is the place to read them.

The publication is from 2022 (European addiction research), a journal based in Switzerland.

More context: the Oxytocin compound page and the ACTH (Corticotropin) compound page, all human trials.