ReviewToxins2023
Botulinum Toxin Treatment for Depression: A New Paradigm for Psychiatry.
Review in Toxins, 2023. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 13 papers, 1 of them a synthesis that pooled it.
What it found
Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.
The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.
Who cites it
13 citing papers in PubMed, 1 synthesis or guideline pooled it, 21 citations in OpenAlex.
- Botulinum Toxin Injections for Psychiatric Disorders: A Systematic Review of the Clinical Trial Landscape.Toxins · 2024Pooled it
- The complement C3-microglial axis in depression of Parkinson's disease: from mechanism to therapeutic intervention.EBioMedicine · 2026Article
- Botulinum Toxin for Chronic Migraine: Beyond Headache Reduction and Toward Possible Cognitive Benefits.Toxins · 2026Review
- Beyond aesthetic outcomes: psychodermatological benefits of botulinum toxin treatment in the upper facial third. A narrative review.Frontiers in psychiatry · 2026Review
- A Psychological Guide to Upper Face Botulinum Toxin Injections: Baseline Emotional Functions of Facial Expressions.Journal of cosmetic dermatology · 2025Review
- Botulinum Toxin: An Unconventional Tool for the Treatment of Depression?Brain sciences · 2025Review
- Botulinum toxin treatment in a resource-limited setting: Experiences from a public institution in a developing countryBiomedica : revista del Instituto Nacional de Salud · 2025Article
- The Face of Emotion: Botulinum Toxin, Emotional Anatomy, and Mood Modulation.Journal of cosmetic dermatology · 2025Review
- Botulinum Toxin A Therapy for Glabellar Lines Improves Emotional States: Evaluation of 47 Cases without Mental Disorders.Journal of plastic and reconstructive surgery · 2025Article
- Intradermally injected abobotulinumtoxinA administered preemptively before surgery alleviates post-surgical pain and normalizes behavior in a translational animal model.Scientific reports · 2025Article
- Article
- Depression Treatment: Is There a Role for Botulinum Toxin Type A?Microorganisms · 2024Review
- Proprioception, Emotion and Social Responsiveness in Children with Developmental Disorders: An Exploratory Study in Autism Spectrum Disorder, Cerebral Palsy and Different Neurodevelopmental Situations.Children (Basel, Switzerland) · 2024Article
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
1 author at 1 institution in 1 country.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
Multiple randomized double-blind placebo-controlled trials have shown that botulinum toxin A (BoNT/A), when injected into the frown musculature, is an antidepressant. This review outlines the conceptual narrative behind this treatment modality, starting with theory developed by Charles Darwin. We develop the concept of emotional proprioception and discuss how the muscles of facial expression play an important role in relaying valenced information to the brain's emotional neuroanatomical circuit. We review the role of facial frown musculature as the brain's barometer and transmitter of negatively valanced emotional information. The direct connections between the corrugator muscles and the amygdala are reviewed, and these provide a neuroanatomical circuit that is a logical target for treatment with BoNT/A. The centrality of amygdala dysfunction in the pathogenesis of many psychiatric disorders, and the evidence that BoNT/A modulates amygdala activity, provides the mechanistic link between BoNT/A and its antidepressant activity. Animal models of BoNT/A's antidepressant effects confirm the evolutionary conservation of this emotional circuit. The clinical and theoretical implications of this evidence, as it relates to the potential treatment of a broad range of psychiatric disorders by BoNT/A, is discussed. The ease of administration, long duration, and favorable side effect profile of this therapy is reviewed in the context of existing antidepressant treatments.
Indexed as
Identifiers
What OpenQuestion holds
Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.