Oxytocin nasal spray might one day form a treatment for schizophrenia after positive results from the first study looking at the effects of oxytocin on patients with the mental illness, reports Biological Psychiatry. 15 participants were given doses of oxytocin nasal spray over a period of 3 weeks, and most reported measurable improvements in their [...]
Paul Zak, a university professor and popular ‘neuroeconominist’, has claimed to have found that oxytocin levels are raised by using social networking sites such as Twitter – just as they are in real face-to-face relationships. The experiment was performed on one person only, but if accepted does appear to have implications both for understanding how oxytocin is triggered [...]
Whilst the ‘love hormone’ oxytocin has been well documented to promote bonding and trust between people, a new study suggests that it may also play a role in the ‘in-group/out-group’ mentality that reaches it’s sharpest focus on the battle field. Researchers at the University of Amsterdam have found that volunteers given oxytocin nasal spray bonded [...]
In February, researchers in France reported that patients with high-functioning autism (asperger’s syndrome) were better able to interact socially when given doses of oxytocin nasal spray. Now a second study has appeared to confirm that treating autistic patients with oxytocin hormone can help to alleviate their symptoms. Evdokia Anagnostou, a child neurologist working in Canada, [...]
The Daily Mail reports that researchers are using oxytocin nasal spray to treat women with interstitial cystitis, or chronic inflammation of the bladder wall. The trial is based on the observation that breast feeding women (who have naturally raised levels of oxytocin) often have cystitis symptoms reduced. Those behind the trial at the University of Alabama believe [...]
A new study hasfound that participants with Asperger’s Syndrome (high functioning autism) who were given an oxytocin injection were better able to interpret facial expressions and had more memories of people’s emotional states than those taking a placebo . Eric Hollander, who led the research at the Albert Einstein College of Medicine, New York City, believes [...]
Many studies have been published recently linking oxytocin to social behaviours such as trust, altruism, and even sexual attractiveness. Now, researchers at an Israeli university have identified a link between such behaviours and a specific variation in a person’s DNA that acts as a brain receptor for oxytocin. The Hebrew University researchers evaluated altruism using a game that included [...]
An oxytocin study being carried out at the Stanford University School of Medicine hopes to discover what role, if any, the hormone plays in causing autism. The importance of oxytocin in forming social bonds is now widely documented. At this stage, the inference that the ‘trust hormone’ might be lacking or in some way not working effectively [...]
A study published recently in the Journal of Theoretical Biology warned that women seeking committed males should avoid having sex on the first date. The reason? The rush of Oxytocin released into the female brain after sex can trick her into bonding too early with the man, before she has had a chance to weigh [...]
I thought it would be useful to summarise why Oxytocin is attracting so much scientific and media interest. Oxytocin is a hormone, and therefore, a naturally occurring substance produced by the human body. Women have this hormone in their systems to a greater level than men, and it has been found to increase during and after child birth, [...]
