Selena Brown*
Glabellar Botulinum Toxin (BoNT) injections have been found to have an antidepressant effect in Randomised Controlled Trials (RCTs). BoNT injection is linked to lower rates of depression across a variety of non-psychiatric indications in the FDA Adverse Event Reporting System (FAERS) database, confirming prior findings independent of particular predictions of an antidepressant effect of BoNT. The goal of employing BoNT to treat depression is to stop negative emotions from being reinforced by proprioceptive bodily signals. Negative emotions are also present in various mental diseases, implying that BoNT has therapeutic potential across diagnoses in psychiatry. As compared to alternative therapies, BoNT injections were associated with a lower incidence of anxiety symptoms and related illnesses, according to an examination of the FAERS database. Botulinum toxin injections in the glabella have been found to lessen the symptoms of depression in a series of Randomised Placebo-Controlled Trials (RCTs) and meta-analyses. However, because the toxin's noticeable muscle relaxation makes true blinding of study participants impossible, it's unclear to what extent a bias toward expectations/ placebo effects in the treatment groups vs. disappointment/nocebo effects in the control groups may have inflated the large effect sizes observed in these trials.
