Study: Botox makes you happier?

Sharon Begley at Newsweek reported on a very interesting study published in this month's issue of Cerebral Cortex, by "Andreas Hennenlotter and Bernhard Haslinger of the Tcchnische Universitat Munchen and the Max Planck Institute of Human Cognitive and Brain Sciences", in Germany.
The result?

For Botox patients, however:

"Before Botox, imitating pictures of sad or angry facial expressions caused a large increase in activity in the amygdala, a key emotion region for, especially, anger and anxiety. But after Botox, imitating the angry expressions caused a much lower level of activity in the left amygdala."

Putting on an angry face before you actually feel angry, without Botox, will you angry due to what is called "facial feedback," a concept first outlined by Darwin.

Patients sometimes say they feel happier after Botox, but they just thought it was because they did something nice for themselves...

Lab Notes: Hello Botox, Bye-Bye Anger? [Newsweek Labnotes Blog]

Dr. Jason Pozner
Sanctuary Medical Aesthetic Center

Dr. David Goldberg
Sanctuary Medical Aesthetic Center
Skin Laser Surgery Specialists of NY/NJ