Oxytocin Administration and Emotion Recognition Abilities in Adults Reporting Adverse Childhood Experiences

Long-term Consequences of Childhood Adversity: Exploring Stress Responsive Molecular Pathways and Psychobiological Intervention Models

This study evaluates whether intranasal administration of a single dose of oxytocin improves the ability to recognize emotional states. In a cross-over design, half of the participants first received oxytocin, the other half first received placebo.

Adverse childhood experience such as neglect or abuse can lead to long-term deficits in emotion processing abilities, and these effects might be mediated via alterations in oxytocin production or sensitivity. The goal of this study was to test whether emotion recognition abilities and empathy might be improved by intranasal oxytocin administration in adults with a history of childhood maltreatment.

In a double-blind, placebo-controlled experiment with a crossover design, we assessed the performance of 40 healthy participants with a history of childhood adversity on the Reading the Mind in the Eyes Test (RMET) and an emotion recognition task under 24 IU oxytocin vs. placebo and compared them to a control group of 40 matched individuals without traumatic childhood experiences.

Inclusion Criteria:

• presence of moderate to severe experiences of childhood adversity (early adversity group)

Exclusion Criteria:

• Acute psychiatric disorders and personality disorders or psychiatric disorders within the last 12 months
• Pregnancy