Burel Goodin, Ph.D., an assistant professor in the UAB Department of Psychology and clinical health psychologist who specializes in pain-related behavioral medicine, is one of only four researchers from across the United States to be awarded a Future Leaders in Pain Research Grant by the American Pain Society. Goodin will use the $20,000 award for a study, “The Effects of Intranasal Oxytocin on Pain Sensitivity, Endogenous Pain Processing and Mood: A Randomized, Placebo-Controlled, Crossover Study.”
Oxytocin, Goodin said, is known as the “feel-good hormone.” It acts primarily as a neuromodulator in the brain and is associated most often with women and childbirth. Goodin said the goal of the study is to examine the effects of intranasal oxytocin, compared to placebo, on experimental pain sensitivity, endogenous pain inhibition and pain-relevant mood factors as part of a randomized, double-blind study design in humans.