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A study finds that acetaminophen (Tylenol) reduces positive empathy by reducing activation in brain areas thought to be related to emotional awareness and motivation. (www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov)

submitted 1 year ago by [email protected] to c/[email protected]

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[–] blur457 5 points 1 year ago (2 children)

(I didn't read the article) Is it the drug or is it the pain the drug is taken to alleviate? If I've got a headache or muscle soreness I'm more likely to focus on that than someones fee-fees.

[–] [email protected] 5 points 1 year ago

It's a controlled experiment, not a population study, so the acetaminophen sample weren't in more pain than the control group. But it's a relatively high dose, and while statistically significant the effect seems kind of small. I'm not sure there's really particularly big conclusions you can draw from it.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 1 year ago

Acetaminophen [...] blunts physical and social pain by reducing activation in brain areas thought to be related to emotional awareness and motivation.