Intranasal oxytocin as an adjunct treatment among patients with severe major depression with and without comorbid borderline personality disorder

What Was Tested

This randomized controlled trial paper looks at Oxytocin.

One possible explanation to account for the difference in the effect of IN-OT is comorbid borderline personality disorder (BPD).

This randomized controlled study was aimed to explore the differential effect of IN-OT administration among depressive patients with or without comorbid borderline personality disorder.

Who Took Part

A secondary analysis was conducted on a specific subset of patients who participated in an RCT evaluating the impact of IN-OT as add-on treatment for patients with severe mental illness.

The effect of IN-OT on therapy process and outcome was examined among patients with (n = 35) and without (n = 23) comorbid BPD.

How the Study Was Run

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

Because people in this Oxytocin study were split into groups at random, differences between the groups are less likely to reflect who happened to join each one.

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

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

What Was Measured

The subject headings attached to it are Oxytocin, Major Depressive Disorder, Borderline Personality Disorder and Depression.

The authors tagged it with the keywords Inpatient settings, Intranasal and Major depression.

What This Means in Plain Language

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

Results are reported in around 6 sentences of the abstract; we leave them to the paper itself rather than summarise them.

The publication is from 2024 (Journal of affective disorders), a journal based in Netherlands.

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