N-Acetylsysteine Reduces Cutting Behaviors
Cutting, or non-suicidal self injury, is a serious problem among adolescents, and few treatments are available. Researcher Kathryn Cullen and colleagues have found that N-acetylcysteine (NAC), an antioxidant nutritional supplement that has been effective in the treatment of depression and many addictions and habit-related behaviors, can reduce cutting.
The study included 25 participants with a history of non-suicidal self injury, aged 13–21, and 12 controls. They participated in brain scans before and after treatment. Compared to the controls, the self-injurers showed greater overall psychopathology, greater activation in a few brain regions (precuneus, posterior cingulate, insula, and temporal lobes), and reduced lower left frontal activation. Patients who received NAC up to 900mg twice daily in weeks 5–8 of the study reduced their cutting and also showed reduced psychopathology. An increase in frontal activation in response to negative emotion was linked to the reduction in cutting.
Editor’s Note: NAC improves mood in depression, many addictions, and many habits including trichotillomania (excessive hair-pulling), nail biting, and cutting. It may do this by increasing glial glutamate transporters in the nucleus accumbens, the brain’s reward center, which lessens the magnitude of the glutamate signal, mediating the compulsion to engage in the habitual behavior.
