Testosterone reduces unconscious fear but not consciously experienced anxiety: implications for the disorders of fear and anxiety.
BACKGROUND
The fear-reducing properties of testosterone have been firmly established in animals but not in humans. However, human data on the relation between testosterone, fear, and anxiety have predominantly involved questionnaires that index cortically executed conscious appraisal of anxious mood. Animal studies, on the other hand, indicate that the effects of testosterone on motivation and emotion are of subcortical origin and of unconscious nature. Presently, it was hypothesized that a single testosterone administration to humans would reduce unconscious fear but not consciously experienced anxiety.


METHODS
In a placebo-controlled, double-blind crossover design, a single dose of testosterone (.5 mg) or placebo was administered to 16 healthy female volunteers. Afterward, a masked emotional Stroop task measured unconscious emotional responses to fearful faces, while multiple self-reports of mood indexed consciously experienced anxiety.


RESULTS
As hypothesized, the habitual vigilant emotional response to the masked fearful face observed in the placebo condition was significantly reduced after testosterone was administered, while the self-reported measures of anxiety remained unaffected.


CONCLUSIONS
These data provide the first direct evidence for fear-reducing properties of testosterone in humans. Furthermore, by dissociating specific aspects of fear and anxiety in humans, this outcome highlights that testosterone's effects on motivation and emotion concern the subcortical affective pathways of the brain.
van Honk
Jack
J
Helmholtz Research Institute, Affective Neuroscience Section, Utrecht University, Heidelberglaan 2, 3585 CS Utrecht, The Netherlands. J.vanhonk@fss.uu.nl
Peper
Jiska S
JS
Schutter
Dennis J L G
DJ
D000328:Adult; D001007:Anxiety / Q000188:drug therapy* / Q000209:etiology; D001288:Attention / Q000187:drug effects; D003243:Consciousness; D018592:Cross-Over Studies; D004311:Double-Blind Method; D005149:Facial Expression; D005239:Fear / Q000187:drug effects* / Q000523:psychology; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D010775:Photic Stimulation / Q000379:methods; D011569:Psychiatric Status Rating Scales; D011930:Reaction Time / Q000187:drug effects; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires; D013647:Task Performance and Analysis; D013739:Testosterone / Q000627:therapeutic use*; D013997:Time Factors; D014473:Unconscious, Psychology
D013739:Testosterone