Anabolic Steroids Can Affect the Mind, Experiment Reveals

New evidence that anabolic steroids can affect the mind comes from an unprecedented experiment on people who took the muscle-building aids.

The steroids seemed to trigger reactions ranging from euphoria to aggression, according to an article in the Journal of the American Medical Assn.

Earlier studies of steroid abusers also had reported such mood changes, but this was the first time the drug was tested under controlled conditions in people who had never used steroids before, researchers said.

Twenty men, aged 18-42, spent two weeks in a National Institutes of Health research ward. The men were not trained athletes and were found to be clear of drug use or psychiatric problems.

Over 12 days, they received an inert fake drug, 40 milligrams of steroid or the fake drug, 240 milligrams of either, and the fake again. They also completed questionnaires on their moods and were evaluated by nurses.

The researchers found greater energy, confusion, distractibility, euphoria and sexual arousal associated with steroid use. The changes were not strongly marked, but were common enough to be meaningful, said Dr. David R. Rubinow, clinical director of the National Institute of Mental Health.

Researchers also found a rise in violent feelings, but these were not quite common enough to meet strict scientific standards for a clear association, so they were labeled a trend, said Rubinow, who did the study with Dr. Tung-Ping Su.

One subject did demonstrate the feelings of uncontrollable anger known as “ ‘roid rage,” and requested being put in a virtually bare room, Rubinow said.

“He realized he needed to be away, but he wasn’t a risk to anyone as long as he was off by himself,” Rubinow said.

The man was seen pounding the walls a couple of times, but the symptoms were gone within days, Rubinow said. This was the most extreme case, but the overall study demonstrates the existence of mood changes among steroid users, he added.

“The fact that we found anything at all is rather amazing in a study in which we used such low doses at such a short period of time,” Rubinow said. However, there was too much variability among participants let researchers predict who may be affected and how strongly, he said.

Other researchers consider the clinical study an advance over previous data from steroid abusers, but contend its value is limited by several factors.

The constant psychological assessments may have had their own effects on the subjects’ moods, said Dr. Gary I. Wadler of Cornell University Medical College, Manhasset, N.Y.

Because the testing ran for only about two weeks, it is impossible to tell whether the reported mood changes would have gotten stronger or weaker, or remained unchanged over the longer periods in which abusers normally take steroids, Wadler said. Steroid users have been reported to cycle through dosages in 8-12 week periods.

For instance, heightened sexual arousal was reported in these subjects. But long-term steroid use is said to make sexual interest flag, Wadler said.

The type of steroid given, methyltestosterone, may have made the effect more dramatic, said steroid researcher Charles E. Yesalis of Penn State University.

“For several decades, athletes knew there was something special about methyltestosterone--that it’ll really get to you from a behavioral standpoint,” Yesalis said. “In my opinion, it’s not a commonly used anabolic steroid because it has this reputation.”

Also, the limited variability dosages may effect the value of the results, Yesalis said. Endurance athletes may take less than the 40-milligram low dose while weight trainers may take far more than the 240-milligram high dose, he said. Abusers commonly also use multiple dosages.

The drug was given orally, in contrast with the common injection method--a difference that may affect the results, Yesalis said.

However, the research does help answer one question about steroids: whether they affect the nervous system directly or through the athlete’s perception that he is gaining muscle, Yesalis said.

“You get bigger in a society that values bigness,” Yesalis said. The thought was that the change in body type may account for the mood changes.

The study “adds to my suspicion” that steroids affect the nervous system, Yesalis said. But they don’t rule out an indirect effect.