The Brain’s Response to

Anabolic Steroids

Hi, my name’s Sara Bellum. Welcome to my magazine series 

exploring the brain’s response to drugs. In this issue, we’ll investigate 

the fascinating facts about anabolic steroids.

Anabolic steroids are artificial versions of a 

hormone that’s in all of us—testosterone. 

(That’s right, testosterone is in girls as well 

as guys.) Testosterone not only brings 

out male sexual traits, it also causes 

muscles to grow.

Some people take anabolic steroid 

pills or injections to try to build 

muscle faster. (“Anabolic” means 

growing or building.)

But these steroids also have 

other effects. They can cause 

changes in the brain and 

body that increase risks for 

illness, and they may also 

affect moods. 

The Search Continues

There’s still a whole lot that scientists don’t 

know about the effects of anabolic steroids 

on the brain. Maybe someday you’ll make 

the next big discovery.

Until then, join me—Sara Bellum—in 

the other magazines in my series, as we 

explore how drugs affect the brain and 

nervous system. 

Doctors never prescribe anabolic 

steroids for building muscle 

in young, healthy people. (Try 

push-ups instead!) But doctors 

sometimes prescribe anabolic 

steroids to treat some types of 

anemia or disorders in men that 

prevent the normal production 

of testosterone.

You may have heard that doctors 

sometimes prescribe steroids to 

reduce swelling. This is true, but 

these aren’t anabolic steroids. They’re 

corticosteroids.

Since corticosteroids don’t build 

muscles the way that anabolic 

steroids do, people don’t abuse 

them.

Anabolic Steroids in 

Medicine

1) Anabolic steroids can affect the hypothalamus.

2) Anabolic steroids strengthen the immune

system.

3) Anabolic steroids can cause males’ breasts to

grow and females’ breasts to shrink.

True

or False

STEROIDS

1) True, 2) False, 3) True.

National Institute on Drug Abuse Mind Over Matter is produced by the National Institute on Drug Abuse, National Institutes of Health, U.S. Department of Health and 

Human Services. These materials are in the public domain and may be reproduced without permission. Citation of the source is appreciated. NIH 

Publication No. 09-3860. Printed 1997. Reprinted 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007. Revised 2009.

For more information, visit:

www.teens.drugabuse.gov

To learn more about anabolic steroids and other drugs of abuse, 

or to order materials on these topics, free of charge, in English or 

Spanish, visit the NIDA Web site at www.drugabuse.gov or 

contact the DrugPubs Research Dissemination Center at 

877-NIDA-NIH (877-643-2644; TTY/TDD: 240-645-0228).
You may have heard that some athletes use 

anabolic steroids to gain size and strength. 

Maybe you’ve even seen an anabolic 

steroid user develop bigger muscles over 

time.

But while anabolic steroids can make 

some people look stronger on the outside, 

they may create weaknesses on the inside. 

For example, anabolic steroids are bad for 

the heart—they can increase fat deposits 

in blood vessels, which can cause heart 

attacks and strokes. They may also damage 

the liver. Steroids can halt bone growth—

which means that a teenage steroid user 

may not grow to his/her full adult height.

Do Anabolic Steroids Really

Make the Body Stronger?

Scientists are still learning about how 

anabolic steroids affect the brain, and in 

turn, behavior. Research has shown that 

anabolic steroids may trigger aggressive 

behavior in some people. This means that 

someone who abuses anabolic steroids 

may act mean to people they’re normally 

nice to, like friends and family, and they 

may even start fights. Some outbursts can 

be so severe they have become known in 

the media as “roid rages.” And when a 

steroid abuser stops using the drugs, they 

can become depressed, even suicidal. 

Researchers think that some of the changes 

in behavior may be caused by hormonal 

changes that are caused by steroids, but 

there is still a lot that is not known.

Anabolic Steroids Affect the Brain

Your body’s testosterone production is 

controlled by a group of nerve cells at the 

base of the brain, called the hypothalamus. 

The hypothalamus also does a lot of other 

things. It helps control appetite, blood 

pressure, moods, and reproductive ability.

Anabolic steroids can 

change the messages

the hypothalamus 

sends to the body. 

This can disrupt 

normal hormone 

function.

In guys, anabolic steroids can interfere 

with the normal production of 

testosterone. They can also act directly 

on the testes and cause them to shrink. 

This can result in a lower sperm count. 

They can also cause an irreversible loss 

of scalp hair.

In girls, anabolic steroids can cause a 

loss of the monthly period by acting on 

both the hypothalamus and reproductive 

organs. They can also cause loss of scalp 

hair, growth of body and facial hair, and 

deepening of the voice. These changes can 

also be irreversible.

Anabolic Steroids Can Confuse the

Brain and Body