By Alena Kuzub
Northeastern University professor Raymond Booth first learned about propranolol, a drug developed to treat high blood pressure, in pharmacy school around 1978.
In graduate school, he noticed classmates using the drug not for heart conditions but to manage situational anxiety, especially during exams. Curious, he asked a friend how she knew to take it. She shrugged: everyone in her pharmacy school had used it.
“It basically decreases my heart rate and that relaxes me, because when I go in front of people, I get nervous and my heart beats faster,” Booth recalls her saying.
Those who understood the drug’s mechanism of action took full advantage of it, says Booth, an associate director of Northeastern University’s Center for Drug Discovery and professor of pharmaceutical sciences.
Today, celebrities including Robert Downey Jr. and Katy Perry have admitted to using beta-blockers to calm nerves before public appearances. Yet, according to the UK-based Pharmaceutical Journal, some experts warn that evidence supporting propranolol’s use for anxiety is limited. They also stress the need for greater awareness about the risks of misuse and overdose.
What to know about anxiety
When public speaking or even a first date makes you extremely anxious, is it worth considering this “magic pill”?
What most people call anxiety is a set of physiological reactions, thoughts and feelings triggered by uncomfortable situations, says Rachel Rodgers, an associate professor of applied psychology at Northeastern University.
