Hi everyone, happy Monday 😊🌞
I came across an interesting paper I wanted to share.
55 women with social anxiety disorder received either testosterone diluted in water or a placebo, and then did an exposure therapy session.
When the women did another exposure therapy session 1 month later, the ones who had received testosterone felt more fear right away (in the first 4 minutes), but this fear also went down faster than in the other group. Interesting!
This suggests that testosterone makes you more emotionally reactive to fear.
This pattern was also found for women who have a higher baseline level of testosterone.
You can read the paper here.
Testosterone goes up a little bit during ovulation, but changes much less than estrogen and progesterone do over the course of the cycle.
Photo from Healthline.
How about you?
Do you feel an effect of testosterone on your fear in social situations, how intense it is right away, and/or how quickly it goes down?
Does your cycle affect your social anxiety in other ways?
I know this is a sensitive and tender topic, so of course no pressure to share but if you feel comfortable, it would be lovely to hear about your experiences in the comments section.
We all have these complex human bodies and it's lovely to feel less alone in our experiences of living in them.
Wishing you a peaceful evening 🌻