Oxytocin and psychotherapy: A pilot study of its physiological, behavioral and subjective effects in males with depression

MacDonald, Kai; MacDonald, Tina Marie; Brüne, Martin; Lamb, Kristi; Wilson, Michael P.; Golshan, Shahrokh; Feifel, David

doi:10.1016/j.psyneuen.2013.05.014

Cited by 122 publications

(99 citation statements)

References 130 publications

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“…IN-OT also benefits individuals with mental disorders, such as anxiety disorder (51), autism (52), and depression (24,25). The social adaption model of OT function proposed stronger OT effect on social processes in less socially adapted individuals (5).…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…The finding that IN-OT normalized the hyperupdates upon undesirable feedback in less-adapted individuals has important clinical implications for OT treatment in depression, which is characterized by the lack of optimistic updating (2,20). Although IN-OT has been applied to depression in a few clinical trials (24,25), the cognitive mechanisms underlying the potential therapeutic effect of OT in depressed patients remain unclear. Our findings suggest a potential cognitive mechanism through which IN-OT ameliorates pessimism in depression.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…23). Moreover, IN-OT has been recently used in the treatment for depressive patients (24,25)-a population characterized by the absence of optimistic belief updating (20). There has been evidence that optimistic updating serves as an advantageous mechanism for individuals' social adaptation.…”

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confidence: 99%

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Distinct oxytocin effects on belief updating in response to desirable and undesirable feedback

Wang

et al. 2016

Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. U.S.A.

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Humans update their beliefs upon feedback and, accordingly, modify their behaviors to adapt to the complex, changing social environment. However, people tend to incorporate desirable (better than expected) feedback into their beliefs but to discount undesirable (worse than expected) feedback. Such optimistic updating has evolved as an advantageous mechanism for social adaptation. Here, we examine the role of oxytocin (OT)-an evolutionary ancient neuropeptide pivotal for social adaptation-in belief updating upon desirable and undesirable feedback in three studies (n = 320). Using a double-blind, placebo-controlled between-subjects design, we show that intranasally administered OT (IN-OT) augments optimistic belief updating by facilitating updates of desirable feedback but impairing updates of undesirable feedback. The IN-OT-induced impairment in belief updating upon undesirable feedback is more salient in individuals with high, rather than with low, depression or anxiety traits. IN-OT selectively enhances learning rate (the strength of association between estimation error and subsequent update) of desirable feedback. IN-OT also increases participants' confidence in their estimates after receiving desirable but not undesirable feedback, and the OT effect on confidence updating upon desirable feedback mediates the effect of IN-OT on optimistic belief updating. Our findings reveal distinct functional roles of OT in updating the first-order estimation and second-order confidence judgment in response to desirable and undesirable feedback, suggesting a molecular substrate for optimistic belief updating.oxytocin | social adaptation | confidence | belief updating | optimism

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Distinct oxytocin effects on belief updating in response to desirable and undesirable feedback

Wang

et al. 2016

Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. U.S.A.

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“…The effect from Averbeck et al (2011) was computed from a tstatistic on post-treatment scores. Outcomes from MacDonald et al (2013) were obtained from a figure using web plot digitizer (Rohatgi, 2011). Pedersen et al (2013) did not report pre-scores.…”

Section: Figurementioning

confidence: 99%

Coding errors lead to unsupported conclusions: a critique of Hofmann et al. (2015)

Williams¹,

Bürkner²

2017

Preprint

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Due to converging evidence in animals and healthy human populations, oxytocin has been identified as potentially having therapeutic properties. As such, numerous randomized controlled trials have investigated the efficacy of intranasal oxytocin (IN-OT) on reducing psychiatric symptoms in clinical populations. As results have been mixed, meta-analytic reviews seeking to synthesize the extant literature have been published.One such review was published in Psychiatry Research (Hofmann et al., 2015). The authors concluded that IN-OT significantly improved psychiatric symptoms and found significant effects on depression, anxiety, psychotic symptoms, and general psychopathology. We found several errors in this paper and, when corrected, resulted in all null results (no effect of IN-OT)which suggests that the conclusions of Hofmann et al.(2015) are incorrect. The current letter therefore has three aims: (1) we will outline several errors and raise questions regarding their analysis; and (2) we will perform a meta-analysis using the same primary studies and similar methods; and (3) we will conclude by stating the importance of this letter

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“…Further, individuals in a more supportive social context experience greater stress-reducing effects after OT administration (Heinrichs et al, 2003) and those lower in loneliness demonstrate better cardiac control after receiving OT administration (Norman et al, 2011). There is also evidence that OT administration can have adverse consequences for those who tend to experience more negative emotional states, such as those with elevated levels of depression and major depressive disorder (MacDonald et al, 2013). Thus, it is possible that OT administration and positive emotion inductions combined could be more beneficial for social and cognitive outcomes than either OT administration or positive emotion inductions alone.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Combining oxytocin administration and positive emotion inductions: Examining social perception and analytical performance

Human

Thorson

Woolley

et al. 2017

Hormones and Behavior

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a b s t r a c t a r t i c l e i n f oIntranasal administration of the hypothalamic neuropeptide oxytocin (OT) has, in some studies, been associated with positive effects on social perception and cognition. Similarly, positive emotion inductions can improve a range of perceptual and performance-based behaviors. In this exploratory study, we examined how OT administration and positive emotion inductions interact in their associations with social and analytical performance. Participants (N = 124) were randomly assigned to receive an intranasal spray of OT (40 IU) or placebo and then viewed one of three videos designed to engender one of the following emotion states: social warmth, pride, or an affectively neutral state. Following the emotion induction, participants completed social perception and analytical tasks. There were no significant main effects of OT condition on social perception tasks, failing to replicate prior research, or on analytical performance. Further, OT condition and positive emotion inductions did not interact with each other in their associations with social perception performance. However, OT condition and positive emotion manipulations did significantly interact in their associations with analytical performance. Specifically, combining positive emotion inductions with OT administration was associated with worse analytical performance, with the pride induction no longer benefiting performance and the warmth induction resulting in worse performance. In sum, we found little evidence for main or interactive effects of OT on social perception but preliminary evidence that OT administration may impair analytical performance when paired with positive emotion inductions.

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Oxytocin and psychotherapy: A pilot study of its physiological, behavioral and subjective effects in males with depression

Cited by 122 publications

References 130 publications

Distinct oxytocin effects on belief updating in response to desirable and undesirable feedback

Distinct oxytocin effects on belief updating in response to desirable and undesirable feedback

Coding errors lead to unsupported conclusions: a critique of Hofmann et al. (2015)

Combining oxytocin administration and positive emotion inductions: Examining social perception and analytical performance

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