Every week almost one-quarter of Americans use this drug.
Acetaminophen — commonly known as Tylenol in the US and paracetamol elsewhere — reduces people’s empathy for the pain of others, new research finds.
Acetaminophen is an ingredient in over 600 different medications, including being the main constituent of Tylenol.
The ubiquitous painkiller does not just kill pain, it also kills our fellow-feeling.
Dr Dominik Mischkowski, the study’s first author, said:
“These findings suggest other people’s pain doesn’t seem as big of a deal to you when you’ve taken acetaminophen.
Acetaminophen can reduce empathy as well as serve as a painkiller.”
Previous research has also found that the drug can reduce the positive emotions of those taking it.
Dr Baldwin Way, a study co-author, said:
“We don’t know why acetaminophen is having these effects, but it is concerning.
Empathy is important.
If you are having an argument with your spouse and you just took acetaminophen, this research suggests you might be less understanding of what you did to hurt your spouse’s feelings.”
The research was carried out on 80 college students.
Half were given a dose of 1,000mg of acetaminophen and the other half a placebo.
They then read a series of stories about people who had been hurt and were asked to […]
This shouldn’t come as a huge surprise for any pain relief product. A drug that interferes with our brain’s ability to recognize pain in ourselves might easily also interfere with our brain’s ability to recognize pain in others. Pain, whether seen, heard, or tactile, is all chemical and neurological signals. Block those signals in the brain, and pain from all sources is numbed – pain from your headache, and pain you see with your eyes. What’s interesting to me about this study is the implication that the part of our brain that feels pain in our own bodies is also responsible for feeling pain in others. Perhaps the brain’s pain center is more highly developed in the most empathetic people. And – might there then be a SAFE way to stimulate the pain center and increase empathy? Imagine a safe, low-dose drug like aspirin that would lightly address the pain center, not numbing or blocking it but instead polishing the neural pathways leading to it, making that path preferable. Imagine our world today if such an “empathy aspirin” were as common as sugars, fats, and preservatives in our food and drink.
In my experience the best conservatives have greater difficulty putting themselves in the place of people unlike themselves than do others. Once they make a connection, they arre normal in their empathy- but making the connection is harder.
An interesting study would be whether a higher percentage of ‘conservatives’ take this drug than do liberals and progressives.
I agree Gus, it’s my powerful belief that conservatives are operating out of fear, which holds them back from making those empathic connections. They have unspoken needs. They lack communication skills because their brains are caught up in years of programming. When I listen to them, I hear robots. Some years, a friend of mine, who at the time was living in DC, mentioned being at a party with diplomats, key players on The Hill, and, among others, well known representatives of the media. Actually, the party was being held in the home of a wealthy, powerful, political Conservative pundit. My friend took a bathroom break and used the bathroom next to his host’s bedroom. Curious, he opened the cabinet above the mirror and voila! Full of prescriptions, and over the counter pain drugs.
Yes, pain, emotional and physical can open us to greater empathy. As a child of content abuse and a severe asthmatic as a child (no longer), I became extremely sensitive to suffering of other living beings in ways that continue to sensitize. That said, I was ultimately drawn to alternative medicine with amazing results. And ultimately to meditation, yoga, cardio, pilates, and a healthy diet. All of those are my power pack.
Meditation opens the neural pathways to empathy for oneself and all living beings.
Health conscious people are not likely to take this drug routinely since it can have very damaging effects on the kidneys. It is however very popular in Europe (and perhaps other places worldwide) where it is marketed as paracetamol with brand names Tylenol, Panadol, Anacin, Mapap, Ofirmev, Feverall, Acephen, Xl-dol, Bf-paradac, Mejoralito, Aypanal, Aphen, Ringl, Nortemp, Tempra, Apap, Select, Rugby, and Easy. Many doctors will tell you that it is safer than aspirin. I do not trust that intuitively and have rejected that advice in my own life.
Those who have had serious illnesses or experienced physical and emotional trauma and are not yet aware of alternative, herbal and or meditation sometimes benefit from allopathic medicine (pain killers). My former doctor was a Harvard trained physcian who became a wellness doctor and worked together whenever needed with oncologists and Internal medical docs, etc. Those partnerships created a balance that opened minds in wonderful ways.
Every act of kindness and empathy that comes from a place of pure love, of recognition of the Divine in others is an investment in the collective that is focusing on a life affirming future of well being. Stephan Schwartz is a long time friend and I highly recommend reading his Eight Laws of Change.