The not-so-secret weapon in the arsenal of nearly every aging Hollywood star is Botox. It has been nicknamed the fountain of youth in a syringe. Nearly everyone in Hollywood has had a Botox injection here or there and, in the words of Jenna McCarthy, "Anyone who doesn't [admit it] is full of [bleep]." Celebrity doctors in Los Angeles and New York City estimate that as many as 75% of their celebrity patients over the age of 35 have received Botox (Triggs & Harrington, 2009). While this potion of youth has been erasing crow's feet and neck wrinkles since 1997, a new study reveals that celebrities may have more to credit Botox than just their ageless complexion. Botox, get ready for this eyebrow lift, it can relieve depression. In the largest controlled study to date on the effects of Botox on depression, Finzi and Rosenthal (2014) randomly assigned 74 patients with major depressive disorder to receive Botox or saline placebo injections. to the corrugator and procerus muscles. The corrugator and procerus muscles, found between the eyebrows, are the muscles that contract when a person frowns. When Botox is injected into these muscles, it acts like a tiny poison dart that temporarily stops sending chemical nerve signals to those muscles, thus paralyzing them. By paralyzing the “frown muscles,” Botox inhibits frowning facial expressions (Singer, 2009). The researchers of this study believed that inhibiting frowning would treat participants' depression. The researchers' hypothesis is based on a theory first proposed by Charles Darwin called the "facial feedback hypothesis" (Finzi et. al., 2014). Darwin suggested that the feedback our brain receives from the contraction of facial muscles plays a random role in cont...... half of the article...... Rosenthal (2014) essentially tricked the brains of depressed participants causing them to think they are no longer sad. The results of this study are revolutionary, because those who suffer from this devastating disorder now have a completely new approach to treating their depression. Although Botox replaces antidepressants in both safety and cost, it is probably too premature to declare Botox the antidepressant of the 21st century. As with all new studies, this breakthrough requires more well-designed and rigorous clinical studies before Finzi et. al (2014) study can be confirmed and broader and more meaningful conclusions can be drawn. However, if this treatment proves effective, imagine the thousands, perhaps millions of cosmetic Botox users whose depression has been cured or prevented by chance thanks to a small, painless Botox injection...