Tylenol And The Mind Body

One of the most overdosed substances in the world is something you would not even think about.  About 60,000 people in the US are admitted to the hospital for an overdose of acetaminophen.  Before you start scratching your head to figure out what that is, acetaminophen is the active drug in Tylenol and can also be found in Vicodin and Percocet.

In a 2009 research study, it showed that acetaminophen actually dulled social anxiety.  In much the same way that something like alcohol or Xanax might do, this substance acted the same way.  Further research has found that it has an affect on how people make moral judgements.

Physical pain and social anxiety share a common pathway in our nervous system.  So if you stop one, then you have stopped the other.  In other words, by removing physical pain, you are dulling the sense of moral judgment and social anxiety.

At one time I took Tylenol for headaches among a whole host of other over-the-counter medications.  From an early age, if I got a sniffle, then there was some type of medication pushed at me.  In fact, if I didn't take it, I was punished in one form or another.