An emotional response and the ability to deliberately regulate it are separate experimental outcomes.
Thirty-three healthy male volunteers were randomized to oxazepam or placebo before an image-based task. Oxazepam lowered unpleasantness ratings for negative images, but there was no clear interaction between drug assignment and instructions to increase or decrease the emotional response.
The small preliminary experiment tested one regimen in healthy men. Absence of a detected interaction does not prove identical effects in other populations, with alcohol or at different doses. Self-reports and physiological measures also capture different aspects of response.
Do not equate reduced distress with loss of emotional control. Conversely, a task showing preserved reappraisal does not establish unimpaired driving, judgment or consent. In a forensic opinion, specify the tested ability and avoid using a general disinhibition theory as proof of an individual mental state.
Source: PMC8061924, supplied full-text paper. Findings are paraphrased; forensic implications are an interpretation.
Related: Midazolam Did Not Disrupt Reactivated Fear Memory in Ethanol-Withdrawn Rats.