(Tom:
1. Paracetamol and acetaminophen are the same medication: Known as paracetamol in Australia and acetaminophen overseas.
2. In Australia the equivalent to Tylenol is Panadol.)
Last week’s historic announcement from HHS and President Trump connecting Tylenol use with the autism epidemic reignited longstanding concerns over Tylenol’s toxicity. For decades, the focus has been on liver damage and accidental overdoses. But the deeper story—the one still hiding in plain sight—is more disturbing: even a single dose of acetaminophen (Tylenol’s active ingredient) measurably blunts human empathy, dulls positive emotions, and increases risk-taking behavior.
This isn’t just a matter of personal health. It’s a social and spiritual crisis. If one-quarter of U.S. adults are taking Tylenol weekly, we may be medicating away our collective capacity for compassion.
Tylenol Blunts Emotions—Good and Bad
In a landmark 2015 Psychological Science study, titled “Over-the-Counter Relief From Pains and Pleasures Alike,” researchers at Ohio State University gave healthy adults a single standard 1,000 mg dose of acetaminophen (Tylenol) and then exposed them to emotionally charged images—ranging from disturbing to uplifting.
The outcome was unambiguous:
- Disturbing images were rated less negatively.
- Uplifting images were rated less positively.
- Across the board, participants reported feeling less emotional arousal, even when viewing the most extreme stimuli.
Brain research helps explain why: acetaminophen dampens activity in the anterior insula and anterior cingulate cortex—regions responsible for processing both physical pain and emotional resonance. These are the same circuits that allow us to feel empathy and to be moved by joy, awe, or sorrownihms703262.
The authors concluded:
“Acetaminophen attenuates individuals’ evaluations and emotional reactions to negative and positive stimuli alike… Rather than being labeled merely a pain reliever, acetaminophen might be better described as an all-purpose emotion reliever.”
https://open.substack.com/pub/sayerji/p/tylenol-from-painkiller-to-empathy
(Tom: I can personally attest to the emotion numbing effects of common medications. In 1995 I was prescribed asthma medication and thereafter felt a noticeably reduced ability to experience emotions. It wasn’t until I did a detox in 2010 that I felt the lid had been lifted off my universe.)