YPOTS
Research type
Research Study
Full title
Effects of oxytocin on mood and social behaviour in adolescent females with eating disorders
IRAS ID
297695
Contact name
Victoria Burmester
Contact email
Sponsor organisation
Imperial College London
Duration of Study in the UK
0 years, 8 months, 1 days
Research summary
Adolescence is developmental period in which peer relationships become especially important. Establishing supportive friendships is a known protective factor against mental illness. A large proportion of adolescents with eating disorders (ED) present at clinics with social difficulties, often indistinguishable from autism spectrum disorder (ASD) symptoms, but these social difficulties are not currently addressed as part of adolescent ED rehabilitation. Oxytocin is a chemical made in our brains that is implicated in all forms of mammalian bonding. Experimentally, oxytocin reduces social anxiety and promotes cooperation, empathy and other helpful social behaviours. The potential of oxytocin to alleviate barriers to successful peer relationships in this group has not yet been tested. This is an experimental medicine study using adolescent females aged 16 & 17 years with ED and age- and sex-matched controls. It will investigate whether intranasal oxytocin improves factors that create barriers to successful social alliances. The factors we are looking at have shown the most promise in previous research:, e.g. social-evaluative threat (concerns about how they are evaluated by peers), sensitivity to social rejection, negative interpretation bias, social anxiety, emotion recognition and mood.
Participants will self-administer via a nasal spray a small dose of oxytocin and placebo (crossover), complete questionnaires and complete tasks to induce mild social evaluative anxiety, tasks to assess negative interpretation biases and tasks to assess emotion recognition. Experimenters and participants will be blinded to the condition.
The adolescent females will all be asked to attend with a parent or friend who will act as a support by being present for the social stress tasks. This is because research shows that oxytocin's effects are enhanced in the presence of social support.
REC name
East Midlands - Leicester South Research Ethics Committee
REC reference
22/EM/0044
Date of REC Opinion
16 May 2022
REC opinion
Further Information Favourable Opinion