people treated with botox report feeling less anxiety: study

the findings could be the result of the botulinum toxins in botox which can affect the central nervous systems involved in emotions.

by chris arnold

published dec 22, 2021

3 minute read

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3 minute read

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people treated with botox report feeling less anxiety: study

botulinum toxins, essentially what makes botox work its magic, can move to parts of the central nervous systems involved in emotions. getty

botox could be doing more than just reducing wrinkles, researchers at the university of california san diego say. in addition to the lesser known uses, such as migraine treatments, a new study suggests that people who receive botox injections report feeling anxious significantly less often than patients receiving different treatment for similar conditions. botox can also be used to treat muscle spasms, sweating, and incontinence, not just as a cosmetic.data collected from nearly 40,000 people was published in scientific reports earlier this week. researchers were looking for signs of positive side effects in the drug. “a large number of diverse adverse effects are being reported to the fda and the main objective usually is to find those harmful side effects that had not been identified during clinical trials,” ruben abagyan, a professor of pharmacy at skaggs school of pharmacy said in a statement. “however, our idea was different. why don’t we do the opposite? why don’t we find beneficial effects?”participants were asked about any reduction or reduced frequency in anxiety or anxiety-related disorders when they were taking botox and compared to a control group. the researchers found that reports of anxiety dropped between 22 and 72 per cent in botox patients, depending on the area of the body where it was injected. the more effective areas include facial muscles for cosmetic use, head muscles for migraine treatment, limbs for spasms, and the neck for torticollis (neck twisting). other areas of injection that did not have enough data collected to form a conclusion include the eyelids, palms, salivary glands, and bladder. scientists have a few ideas on why botox has this effect on people. in july 2020, abagyan and his team published a similar study focusing on the same database, but with an emphasis on depression instead of anxiety. “they may be related, but there are different pathways responsible for anxiety attacks versus depression,” abagyan said. both studies found a decrease in symptoms, causing some doubt around the speculation that botox may help people feel better due to the lack of wrinkles, or the reduced amount of frowning. botulinum toxins, essentially what makes botox work its magic, can move to parts of the central nervous systems involved in emotions. another theory is that there are botox-affected neuromuscular junctions, where signals are sent to muscles from the brain. alternatively, since botox is regularly used to treat conditions which may cause anxiety, it is possible that simply treating those conditions can relieve the anxiety. primarily, botox remains a cosmetic product with as many as seven million people in the united states receiving injections as of 2016, according to medical news today. people regularly get botox injections in many areas around the face and neck, but the food and drug administration (fda) has actually only approved botox for use around the eyes and on the forehead for cosmetic purposes.the fda has approved botox for medical uses, such as the ones researchers looked at in this study including spasms, sweating, and migraines. health canada approved botox in 2011 to treat migraines, but it has been available in canada as a cosmetic for more than 30 years, according to migraines canada. as of 2013, an estimated three million canadians aged 18 and over reported a mood or anxiety disorder, according to the federal government. since the start of the pandemic, canadians have reported worse mental health, with 20 per cent fewer youth age 15 to 24 reporting “excellent or very good” mental health. chris arnold is a toronto-based freelance writer . he can be reached here.don’t miss a thing: sign-up for healthing’s newsletterthank you for your support. if you liked this story, please send it to a friend. every share counts.