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

Status

Completed

Phases

Study type

Interventional

Source

ClinicalTrials.gov

Registry ID

NCT03335085

Enrollment

Registered

2017-11-07

Start date

2011-07-01

Completion date

2013-11-05

Last updated

2017-11-07

For informational purposes only — not medical advice. Sourced from public registries and may not reflect the latest updates. Terms

Conditions

Healthy

Brief summary

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.

Detailed description

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.

Interventions

DRUGOxytocin

OTHERPlacebo

Study design

Allocation

NON_RANDOMIZED

Intervention model

CROSSOVER

Primary purpose

BASIC_SCIENCE

Masking

DOUBLE (Subject, Investigator)

Eligibility

Sex/Gender

ALL

Age

18 Years to 60 Years

Healthy volunteers

Yes

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

Design outcomes

Primary

Measure	Time frame	Description
Reading the Mind in the Eyes Test	45 minutes post-dose	Requires participants to infer complex mental states fromthe eye region
Gradual Emotion Recognition Test	50 minutes post-dose	Requires participants to swiftly and accurately detect basic emotions form naturalistic, animated stimuli.

Outcome results

None listed

Source: ClinicalTrials.gov · Data processed: Feb 4, 2026