Working hard for oneself or others: Effects of oxytocin on reward motivation in social anxiety disorder

• Type of Material: Article
• Authors: Angela Fang, Massachusetts General Hospital and Harvard Medical School; Michael T. Treadway, Emory University; Stefan G. Hofmann, Boston University
• Language: English
• Date: 2017-07-01
• Publisher: Elsevier: 12 months
• Publication Version: Author Accepted Manuscript (After Peer Review)
• Copyright Statement: © 2017 Elsevier B.V.
• License: Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 4.0 International
• Final Published Version (URL): http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.biopsycho.2017.05.015
• Title of Journal or Parent Work: Biological Psychology
• ISSN: 0301-0511
• Volume: 127
• Start Page: 157
• End Page: 162
• Grant/Funding Information: Dr. Hofmann receives support from NIH/NCCIH (R01AT007257), NIH/NIMH (R01MH099021, R34MH099311, R34MH086668, R21MH102646, R21MH101567, K23MH100259)the James S. McDonnell Fundation 21st Century Science Initiative in Understanding Human Cognition – Special Initiative, and the Department of the Army.; This work was supported by the Clara Mayo Memorial Fellowship at Boston University, Weil Dissertation Award, and National Institute of Mental Health (K23 MH109593) to AF, and by the National Institute of Mental Health (R00MH102355) to MTT.
• Keywords: Adult; Object Attachment; Treatment Outcome; Phobia, Social; Humans; Self; Other; Motivation; Young Adult; Male; Social Behavior; Reward; Oxytocin
• Research Categories: Health Sciences, Medicine and Surgery

Abstract

There is some evidence to suggest that oxytocin promotes social behavior, especially for disorders characterized by social dysfunction, such as social anxiety disorder (SAD). The goal of this study was to examine the effect of oxytocin on reward motivation in SAD. We tested whether oxytocin promotes prosocial, or antisocial, self-directed decisions, and whether its effects depended on social anxiety severity and attachment. Fifty-two males with SAD received 24 international units of oxytocin or placebo, and completed a reward motivation task that measured willingness to work for self vs. other monetary rewards. Although there was no main drug effect, social anxiety severity moderated the effect of oxytocin. Less socially anxious individuals who received oxytocin worked harder for other vs. own rewards, compared to high socially anxious individuals. Attachment did not moderate this effect. Among people with SAD, oxytocin enhances prosocial behaviors in individuals with relatively lower levels of social anxiety. National Institutes of Health ClinicalTrials.gov Registry #NCT01856530. https://clinicaltrials.gov/ct2/show/NCT01856530?term=oxytocin+pro-social&rank=2.