Painkillers may numb emotions: researchers

NEW YORK, Feb. 9 — Painkillers not only can relieve one’s
physical symptoms, but may also have psychological effects, new research
suggests.

Researchers from the University of California found that taking common
painkillers like ibuprofen and paracetamol might blunt one’s sensitivity to
emotionally painful experiences and ability to process information. The
findings, published in the journal Policy Insights from the Behavioral and
Brain Sciences, were concluded on the basis of existing research. In one
study, cited in the review, women who took ibuprofen reported “less hurt
feelings” than those taking placebos when excluded from a game or writing
about a time when they were betrayed. They also found that the pills
influenced their ability to empathize with the pain of others.

Compared to those taking placebos, people who took a dose of paracetamol
were less emotionally distressed while reading about a person experiencing
physical or emotional pain and felt less regard for the person. The
painkillers could also affect one’s ability to process information,
according to the findings. People who took paracetamol made more errors of
omission during a task than those who did not take the drug, for example.
The authors of the review described the results as “alarming,” yet they
emphasized that further studies are necessary to see how these doses might
interfere with prescription medications for anxiety and depression, which
would influence how policymakers regulate them. – XINHUA