Hey you guys I was just getting online today and I found this article on my msn.com homepage. I thought it would just be interesting to post on here even though its not really an inflammation issue. Its for a thing called the "love pill." Basically in this article it speaks of a new type of pill that scientists want to develop to hopefully prescribe to people in marriages who just aren't happy. In their paper entitled Neuroenhancement of Love and Marriage: The Chemicals Between Us, they speak of this pill to salvage failing marriages, and in today's world of constant divorce, i fell like if the broad lay community heard about this and believed it, it could have a huge selling as the top drug on the market. In this article they speak of the ingredients that this drug will have such as:
1) Pheromones
2) Testosterone
3) Oxytocin and Vasopressin, what they call "bonding chemicals"
4) Entactogens- "a drug found in MDMA pills like ecstasy"
Although this product is not yet in development, I found it interesting to note that I believe, if it works will cause some people to be in a relationship that otherwise they wouldn't be in.
heres the link to the article on msn
http://living.msn.com/love-relationships/the-heart-beat-blog-post?post=71cbc378-6d27-4219-a464-df8e7645289a
and here is the original paper itself
Neuroenhancement of Love and Marriage: The Chemicals Between Us
Ha! Definitely interesting but let's hope that if such a drug came on the market people wouldn't waste their money. You can get the same boost from simply making out with your loved one... A process that will naturally release oxytocin. If anyone's interested you can watch all the Ted lectures online and through Netflix. There is one series of lectures titled Sex, Drugs, and something something (the full title alludes me at this moment) but a few of the lecturers go into the chemicals that shape love. Definitely worth a look!
ReplyDeleteSounds like a crazy mixture for a pill. I'm not very familiar with pharmaceutical engineering, but I'm wondering if any of these components will lose their potency when combined with the others into a pill. Also, Celine said it best. You can get the same effect in a much more desirable way than popping pills. Nothing to it.
ReplyDeleteI wonder if the drug would help you be more attracted to your partner, or just other people in general. This could cause a lot of problems if you are already on the rocks in your relationship. Usually it seems that if you are having problems, they are for a reason. So would covering them up really do any good?
ReplyDeleteYea the first thing I thought of was "real life love potion". I definitely think that taking something like this would be a cover up for something very much psychological. I agree with the comment above that if there are problems, taking this won't fix it-- I bet it would just push them into a 'lustful' or 'honeymoon' state. I firmly believe that just increasing intimacy and communication will help a lot of things, but sadly it is easier said than done in our society that wants quick fixes =/ But this whole 'pill' fix thing seems very Brave New World-ish to me!
ReplyDeletePersonally I don't think i'm fond of this idea. People should be working through marital problems by talking with one another not by using a pill and that's if this even works. And is it safe? It just appear to be a good idea to me
ReplyDeleteI completely agree with the comments above! Marriages and relationships made easy simply by swallowing a pill. Who wants the hassle of spending time together bonding over fun activities anyways? I was reading a little more about entactogens and found that chemically their core structures are similar to amphetamines. The pharmacological effects can also be similar to methamphetamine, i.e. increases in dopamine, serotonin, norepi, and oxytocin levels. I was wondering what side effects these types of drugs might cause? For instance would long-term use reduce levels of serotonin transporters as has been shown with MDMA? If the drug were withdrawn suddenly would depression and other cognitive deficits arise? At lest this will make for interesting research, thanks for posting
ReplyDeleteThis is really one of those lay articles that sounds too good to be true, and likely is. If your relationship isn't working out so much so to the point that you need to take a pill to keep you happy, how is that really worth it? Simply covering up these problems pharmacologically is far different from actually fixing them. I don't see the real application of this "love drug" to truly help anyone unless they had some sort of disorder that renders them unable to bond with other people, and that's only if the drug actually works. Also, how would they test this drug? I think it would be pretty difficult to come up with a practical animal model to prove efficacy.
ReplyDeleteCertainly seems like a miracle drug! My first thought is back to the use of hormonal contraceptives, which have been linked to a decrease in attraction among married couples when the woman stops taking them (say, to try to get pregnant). What's interesting is a study that showed how attraction seems to work...is the immune system of course! It turns out, that when off the pill, women are most attracted to men with different MHC type molecules than themselves (they were asked to smell shirts from men who were strangers and some who were related to them). Unfortunately, this was just the opposite with women who were on the pill. Perhaps, instead of prescribing more hormones to fix issues that were caused by getting off other hormones, we should suggest to women that they spend some time off the pill before getting married, or switch to a hormone free form of birth control if they're looking to find that special someone!
ReplyDelete