Can painkillers ‘kill’ your empathy?

Pain killing medication is massive business. We are not a society that tolerates pain; when you feel pain you take a little something to make it go away. Depending on what you are taking that can be fine as long as you don’t take it too frequently because, after all, these things are drugs. They don’t occur naturally in your system and they have effects beyond the relief of pain that are not necessarily desirable if you take more than you should. However, as a new study shows there are some subtle effects of taking even the recommended dose of what is commonly regarded as one of the more innocuous painkillers; paracetamol. This is why more and more Americans are turning to kratom for pain relief, instead of traditional painkillers common in cabinets today (Oxycontin, Gabapentin, etc.) Kratom capsules are praised by their users for their lack of side effects (especially when it comes to reduced feelings of empathy.) In fact, some kratom users report that kratom makes them more empathetic, according to a user survey conducted by Star Kratom.

Paracetamol, known in the United States as acetaminophen, is a massively popular painkiller worldwide. A Zion Research report put the global paracetamol market at around US$801.3 million in 2014 and is expected to reach US$999.4 million in 2020 and that translates currently to around 150 kilo tons being sold annually. Yes, paracetamol is big but is it benign? We know of the problems with excess use that can accrue for the liver and kidneys but now a new study shows that just one gram (1000mg), the standard dose of paracetamol can make you feel less empathy.

The researchers think that this lack of empathy might happen because the same areas of the brain that feel pain are also used to imagine pain. Hence reducing pain perception might also reduce your ability to empathise with the pain of others.

The new study involved three experiments. In the first, subjects were given scenarios to read in which the characters experienced some sort of pain. Half of the subjects were given 1000mg of paracetamol beforehand while others were given a placebo. Those who had been given paracetamol rated the pain of the characters in the stories as being less severe.

In a second experiment again half of the subjects were given paracetamol (1000mg) and half were given placebo. They were then asked to rate the unpleasantness of short blasts of white noise and how unpleasant they thought the noise would be for an anonymous participant. Those who took paracetamol rated the noise as less unpleasant and also thought it would be less unpleasant for the other person.

In the third experiment subjects met other and socialised briefly before being taken on to sit alone and watch an online game. The subjects were told that the game was between three of the people they had just met but in fact the game was controlled by the researchers. In the game two of the participants excluded the third. When asked about how this might have affected the excluded person those subjects who had been given paracetamol showed reduced empathy.

The researchers think that this lack of empathy might happen because the same areas of the brain that feel pain are also used to imagine pain. Hence reducing pain perception might also reduce your ability to empathise with the pain of others. It’s yet another reminder that there are no free lunches.