Conditions: Behavior Anxiety
Keywords: psychotherapy
Allocation: RANDOMIZED | Intervention model: CROSSOVER
Enrollment: 18
Healthy volunteers: no

Brief summary:
Subjects-currently in outpatient mental health care--will participate in 2 psychotherapy sessions, one with oxytocin spray and one with placebo spray. Sessions will be videotaped, and cortisol and heart rate will be measured. We hypothesize that oxytocin will have positive benefits on nonverbal behavior in the therapy session, as well as have positive effects on subjective anxiety, cortisol and heart rate.

Detailed description:

Arms:
arm 1: Participant was randomized to receive placebo before the first psychotherapy session, and then received the active drug at the second visit. arm 2: Participant was randomized to receive placebo before the first psychotherapy session, and then received the active drug at the second visit.

Interventions: intervention 1: Placebo then intranasal oxytocin intervention 2: Intranasal oxytocin then placebo
Intervention descriptions: intervention 1: Participant received intranasal placebo spray at first psychotherapy session, and received a single dose of 40 IU intranasal oxytocin at the second session. intervention 2: Participant received a single dose of 40 IU intranasal oxytocin at the first psychotherapy session, and received a similar dose of intranasal placebo spray at the second session.

Protocol document: