The Dark Side of Oxytocin

Association for Psychological Science ^ | July 29, 2011 | Unknown

[decimon]

For a hormone, oxytocin is pretty famous. It’s the “cuddle chemical”—the hormone that helps mothers bond with their babies. Salespeople can buy oxytocin spray on the internet, to make their clients trust them. It’s known for promoting positive feelings, but more recent research has found that oxytocin can promote negative emotions, too. The authors of a new review article in Current Directions in Psychological Science, a journal of the Association for Psychological Science, takes a look at what oxytocin is really doing.

Oxytocin’s positive effects are well known. Experiments have found that, in games in which you can choose to cooperate or not, people who are given more oxytocin trust their fellow players more. Clinical trials have found that oxytocin can help people with autism, who have trouble in social situations. Studies have also found that oxytocin can increase altruism, generosity, and other behaviors that are good for social life.

But the warm fuzzy side of oxytocin isn’t the whole story. “Quite a number of studies have shown it’s actually not that simple,” says Andrew Kemp of the University of Sydney, who cowrote the paper with his colleague Adam Guastella. Recent studies have found that people who were given oxytocin, then played a game of chance with a fake opponent, had more envy and gloating. These are also both social emotions, but they’re negative. “It kind of rocked the research world a little bit,” Kemp says. That led some researchers to think that oxytocin promotes social emotions in general, both negative and positive.

[LibertyRocks]

I think you were given OxyCONTIN (a pain reliever) — OxyTOCIN is the hormone they give pregnant women to induce labor...

I would think that selling that spray over the counter would be pretty dangerous...

[LibertyRocks]

Yes, you are correct about Oxycontin, and oxycodone being the same... HOWEVER, this article discusses the hormone OxyTOCIN - a naturally occurring hormone released by the body. Oxytocin is the chemical they use to induce labor.

[LibertyRocks]

I should really learn to read the rest of the thread before correcting someone.. Didn’t mean to chance making you feel ganged up on! Sorry! :)

[KoRn]

I remember a few years ago an Anesthesiologist’s ‘cart’ got broken into and raided at the hospital where I was working. All of the ‘Oxytocin’ was stolen. This thread has made me feel like the morons that did that. lol

[decimon]

I remember a few years ago an Anesthesiologist’s ‘cart’ got broken into and raided at the hospital where I was working. All of the ‘Oxytocin’ was stolen.

No, no, that was Oxydol. ;-)

[Free in Texas]

I believe the literal translation for Hai Karate would be “Yes Empty-Hand”. Off topic, yes, but amusing (I thought).

[goat granny]

Gave birth 6 times, and the effects of oxytocin are not bonding....it causes the uterus to clamp down to stop bleeding after birth....many women will tell you that in the hospital, when the babies were brought into the room, just the sight of the baby causes the uterus to cramp/clamp down...natures way of decreasing bleeding after giving birth...also given I think to induce labor....

But in the times I gave birth, babies were kept in the nursery until feeding time and your stay in the hospital was 5 days.....the cost of my first child and my hospitalization, (before they called it health care) was 150.00. BC/BS paid it all and we had to pay 4 dollars for the TV. I still have the 50 year old bill....circa 1959

[goat granny]

I might be confusing oxytocin with pitocin for induced labor or they may be the same thing under different names...sorry if I am in error...never mind