Paracetamol – acetaminophen – may diminish both pain and pleasure

Paracetamol appears to suppress both pleasure and pain, says US research published in Psychological Science. Known as acetaminophen in the US, the common painkiller seems to blunt a person’s emotions in general.
Two experiments tested if paracetamol blunted individuals’ evaluations of and emotional reactions to negative and positive photos.
• People who took paracetamol evaluated unpleasant photos less negatively and pleasant stimuli less positively, compared with people who took a pretend pill;
• And those who took paracetamol rated negative and positive photos as less emotionally arousing than did people in the placebo condition.
So people who took paracetamol didn’t feel the same highs or lows as did the people who took the pretend pill. This is the first time that this side-effect of paracetamol has been identified, according to the experts who carried out the experiments.
Geoffrey Durso, lead author, comments:
“Rather than just being a pain reliever, acetaminophen can be seen as an all-purpose emotion reliever.”

Click here to read the original research.

Subscribe to Arthritis Digest, the UK’s fastest growing arthritis magazine for all the latest arthritis news, reviews and celebrity interviews. You’ll know what your doctor is talking about, what new drugs are in the pipeline and be up to date on helpful products. Hard copy and digital versions both available. Click here for more information.

Image credit: Christian Prade