Oxytocin, friendship and dealing with emotions

Rationale: Susceptibility for stress-related psychopathology, e.g. anxiety
disorders, may arise in part when individuals are not able to form stable,
long-lasting bonds, and to profit from the stress-buffering effects of social
support. Oxytocin has been shown to play an important role in attachment to
others and prosocial behaviour. However, it is yet unclear whether, how, and
for whom oxytocin may be used in a clinical setting, most notably because many
individual differences exist in the stress-buffering effects of oxytocin. We
hypothesize that oxytocin may increase the stress-buffering effects of social
support, but that this effect depends on individual variations in attachment,
parenting styles and autonomy-connectedness. These effects may also be more
pronounced in socially stressful situations, compared with a general stressor.
Further, in line with the hypothesis that interpersonal functioning is
essential for psychological well-being, this study tests whether oxytocin and
social support affect the interpersonal closeness one is comfortable with, and
whether this varies for different emotions of the other person. Individual
differences in attachment, parenting experiences during childhood and
autonomy-connectedness are hypothesized to influence preferred interpersonal
closeness and stress during this task.

Objectives:
1) To investigate whether attachment security, autonomy-connectedness, and
childhood experiences moderate effects of social support during stress; 2) To
investigate the influence of oxytocin on the ability to be close to others (in
an interpersonal distance task); 3) To investigate the influence of oxytocin
and social support on stress and anxiety levels induced by a social stress test
(a virtual Trier Social Stress Test); 4) To investigate the influence of
oxytocin and social support on pain perception with a cold pressor test

Study design: A 2x2 experimental study, in which participants are randomly
assigned to 1) an oxytocin or placebo nasal spray, and 2) a social support
(bringing a friend) or no support condition. Participants complete a virtual
reality interpersonal closeness test, a virtual Trier Social Stress Test, and a
Cold Pressor Test. In between, measures of stress, cortisol, heart rate, blood
pressure and skin conductance are completed.

Intervention: Half of participants receive 6 puffs of an oxytocin nasal spray.
The other half receives an equivalent number of puffs of a placebo nasal spray.

24 IU oxytocin or placebo nasal spray

Participants will spend approximately 30 minutes on filling out online
questionnaires before the lab session, and a maximum of 2 hours during the lab
session. Participants will be drawn from a psychology student sample, and will
be rewarded by participant credits. There are no risks in participating in this
experiment. Some emotional distress might occur during the stress tasks, but we
expect that the debriefing procedure will eliminate this stress after the tasks
have been performed.