Word: oxytocin
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...Known as oxytocin (not to be confused with the painkiller OxyContin), the naturally occurring hormone is best known for controlling contractions during labor, but it also plays a key role in other fundamental human urges - including the desire to connect with others. "Somehow, the peptide increases trust, or alters the way individuals see each other," says Tom Insel, director of the National Institute of Mental Health...
...Without oxytocin people would be far less inclined to seek social interaction, let alone fall in love and mate for life (or, as scientists call it, "pair bond"). The brain releases gobs of it during orgasm, mothers are awash in it during breastfeeding and, in clinical trials, a spritz of oxytocin has been shown to reduce anxiety, increase feelings of generosity and even ease the symptoms of shyness. Conversely, researchers are beginning to discover that low levels of the hormone - or the body's faulty response to it - may contribute to severe social dysfunctions like depression and autism...
Most previous research on oxytocin has focused on animals. (Prairie voles are famous for their oxytocin-inspired behavior: they're fiercely monogamous lovers and caring parents.) But more recently, scientists have begun to determine how oxytocin functions in the human brain - or, more specifically, how it malfunctions. Studies have shown that people with autism tend to have low levels of oxytocin, as well as hyperactivity in the amygdala, where most oxytocin receptors are located. The amygdala is also where memories are formed, and where our brains process and assign emotional meaning to sensory information - that is, where we turn perception...
Early studies of oxytocin's role in social interaction have yielded some interesting results. In a small 2006 experiment, Dr. Eric Hollander of New York's Mount Sinai School of Medicine administered synthetic oxytocin and a placebo intravenously to 15 autistic adult patients; afterward, those who received oxytocin were better able to decipher emotions in tone of voice. Moreover, these improvements in social awareness lasted for nearly two weeks. (In 2006, Hollander filed a patent for the use of oxytocin to treat symptoms of autism spectrum disorders; the request is still pending). Investigators at Mount Sinai have also found that...
...know the symptoms: idealized thoughts of the loved one; swings of mood from ecstasy to despair, insomnia and anorexia; and the intense need for signs of reciprocation. Even the brain chemistry is different: lust is fueled (in both sexes) by testosterone, and companionate love by vasopressin and oxytocin. Romantic passion taps the same dopamine system that is engaged by other obsessive drives like drug addiction...