Mental Health Effects of Botox
Botox may do more for you than just erase wrinkles. According to a recent study done by psychology graduate student David Havas of the University of Wisconsin-Madison, women injected with Botox took an average of one-quarter of a second longer to read a sentence describing an angry or sad situation than they had before the procedure. Interestingly, they took no longer to read about a happy situation.
This supports the idea that facial expressions trigger and intensify relevant feelings, rather than simply reflecting them. Thus, someone who has frozen the muscles that show anger or sadness, may take longer to have negative emotions. This could have a detrimental effect on face-to-face interactions, in which even a small delay in evaluating emotion may create misunderstandings and hurt feelings. According to Nicolas Vermeulen, a psychologist at the Catholic University of Louvain in Belgium, Botox patients may react the wrong way to angry situations, putting themselves at risk.
Source: Science News, July 31, 2010
- Posted in: Health ♦ Relationships
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