Testosterone shows hurtful, helpful sides
By Bruce Bower
A small but significant portion of men taking large doses of testosterone experience mania, although moderate doses of the male sex hormone show promise in boosting the mood and sex drive of HIV-infected men.
A pair of new studies offers a glimpse of the contrasting faces of the male sex hormone testosterone, at least from a psychiatric perspective. Testosterone has developed a negative image from reports of bodybuilders and athletes who become agitated and violent after injecting themselves with huge doses of the hormone or its synthetic relatives. The largest placebo-controlled study of testosterone use to date, published in the February Archives of General Psychiatry, confirms that a small but significant portion of men taking large doses of the hormone experiences symptoms of mania.