By paralyzing the facial muscles, botulinum toxin treatment can eliminate forehead wrinkles
Recently, the "Science" website reported that Michelle Magid, a psychiatrist at the University of Texas at Austin, said that botulinum toxin provides "an alternative to patients with severe depression, especially those who cannot tolerate medication.
But many researchers remain skeptical
The idea that Botox can help alleviate depression is based on the facial feedback hypothesis: This view holds that physical expressions of emotions—such as smiling or frowning—can provide feedback to the brain, thereby enhancing or even stimulating emotional experiences
Tillmann Krüger, a psychiatrist at the Hannover Medical School, led a new meta-analysis and found that using Botox to stop frowning "broke the feedback loop
Krüger and colleagues combined data from five trials conducted between 2012 and 2020
But the Coles team found reasons for concern
In fact, the antidepressant effect is much greater than the facial feedback experiment, which is not worth worrying about.
But others also have concerns
McGill University bioethicist Jonathan Kimmelman said the question that still needs to be answered is whether the effects of botulinum toxin on depression are sufficient to justify the risk of rare but worrying side effects
Related paper information: https://doi.
https://doi.
https://doi.
org/10.
1016/j.
jpsychires.
2021.
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