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Oxytocin: The love hormone?
medicalnewstoday
Oxytocin is produced in the hypothalamus and released during sex, childbirth, and lactation to aid reproductive functions.
It has physical and psychological effects, including influencing social behavior and emotion.
Oxytocin is prescribed as a drug for obstetric and gynecological reasons and can help in childbirth.
Research shows that it may benefit people with an autistic spectrum disorder (ASD), anxiety, and irritable bowel syndrome (IBS).
Oxytocin is a neurotransmitter and a hormone that is produced in the hypothalamus. From there, it is transported to and secreted by the pituitary gland, at the base of the brain.
It plays a role in the female reproductive functions, from sexual activity to childbirth and breast feeding. Stimulation of the nipples triggers its release.
During labor, oxytocin increases uterine motility, causing contractions in the muscles of the uterus, or womb. As the cervix and vagina start to widen for labor, oxytocin is released. This widening increases as further contractions occur.
Oxytocin also has social functions. It impacts bonding behavior, the creation of group memories, social recognition, and other social functions.
Oxytocin appears to play a role in social interaction and relationships between people.
When oxytocin enters the bloodstream, it affects the uterus and lactation, but when it is released into certain parts of the brain, it can impact emotional, cognitive, and social behaviors.
One review of research into oxytocin states that the hormone’s impact on “pro-social behaviors” and emotional responses contributes to relaxation, trust, and psychological stability.
Brain oxytocin also appears to reduce stress responses, including anxiety. These effects have been seen in a number of species.
The hormone has been described as “an important component of a complex neurochemical system that allows the body to adapt to highly emotive situations.”
Is it that simple?
In 2006, investigators reported finding higher levels of oxytocin and cortisol among women who had “gaps in their social relationships” and more negative relations with their primary partner. The participants were all receiving hormone therapy (HT) following menopause.
Animal studies have found high levels of both stress and oxytocin in voles that were separated from other voles. However, when the voles were given doses of oxytocin, their levels of anxiety, cardiac stress, and depression fell, suggesting that stress increases internal production of the hormone, while externally supplied doses can help reduce stress.
Clearly, the action of oxytocin is not straightforward.
A review published in 2013 cautions that oxytocin is likely to have general rather than specific effects, and that oxytocin alone is unlikely to affect “complex, high-order mental processes that are specific to social cognition.” The authors also point out that a willingness to collaborate is likely to be driven by anxiety in the first place.
Nevertheless, oxytocin does appear to be associated with social behavior, including maternal care, bonding between couples, sexual behavior, social memory, and trust.
Delivering oxytocin through a nasal spray has allowed researchers to observe its effects on behavior.
In 2011, research published in Psychopharmacology found that intranasal oxytocin improved self-perception in social situations and increased personality traits such as warmth, trust, altruism, and openness.
In 2013, a study published in PNAS suggested that oxytocin may help keep men faithful to their partners, by activating the reward centers in the brain.
In 2014, researchers published findings in the journal Emotion suggesting that people saw facial expression of emotions in others more intensely after receiving oxytocin through a nasal spray.
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Hormones are chemicals produced by different glands across your body. They travel through the bloodstream, acting as messengers and playing a part in many bodily processes.
One of these important functions? Helping regulate your mood.
Certain hormones are known to help promote positive feelings, including happiness and pleasure.
These “happy hormones” include:
Dopamine. Also known as the “feel-good” hormone, dopamine is a hormone and neurotransmitter that’s an important part of your brain’s reward system. Dopamine is associated with pleasurable sensations, along with learning, memory, motor system function, and more.
Serotonin. This hormone (and neurotransmitter) helps regulate your mood as well as your sleep, appetite, digestion, learning ability, and memory.
Oxytocin. Often called the “love hormone,” oxytocin is essential for childbirth, breastfeeding, and strong parent-child bonding. This hormone can also help promote trust, empathy, and bonding in relationships, and oxytocin levels generally increase with physical affection like kissing, cuddling, and sex.
Endorphins. Endorphins are your body’s natural pain reliever, which your body produces in response to stress or discomfort. Endorphin levels also tend to increase when you engage in reward-producing activities, such as eating, working out, or having sex.
Exorcism: When is it appropriate?
Mark Dombeck, Ph.D.
The Washington Post printed a story the other day on a priest by the name of Andrzej Trojanowski who is planning to build out a center for exorcism in Poland. The act of exorcism involves the expulsion of an evil spirit or demon who has taken residence inside a person. As an activity designed to rid a person of negative influences affecting their mental state and behavior, exorcism is remarkably like psychotherapy. It is, however, definitively not thought of as a variety of psychotherapy by practitioners, who are careful to separate it from a treatment for mental illness. A quote from the Post article makes the point:
"Exorcists said they are careful not to treat people suffering from mental illness and that they regularly consult with psychologists and physicians."
In other words, exorcism is specifically thought of as a treatment for a spiritual problem (e.g., demon possession) and this class of problem is thought of as distinct from a mental or physical problem. This distinction being made between mental and spiritual problems is a critical point to focus on, I think. The basis on which this distinction stands or falls is, it seems to me, a cultural or religious one; on whether or not you are one of the faithful. If you have faith in the system of theological thought underlying the exorcism rite, then the distinction between the mental and spiritual is sound and the treatment is absolutely important, necessary and even precise. If you do not believe, then the distinction collapses and the treatment is just another non-evidence-based folk remedy which might do more harm than good if mis-applied. I wrote about just this sort of cultural faith vs. science clash in my recent essay on the nature of psychosis, in which I pointed out that in such cases, each side of the divide tends to view the other as being a little psychotic (e.g., a little out of touch with true reality). I find this sort of belief divide to be fascinating and powerful. It’s just the sort of distinction that forces people who focus on it to stop being wishy-washy and come to a conclusion about their own personal understanding of who is out of touch with reality and who isn’t.
I’m wondering what assessment criteria might be used when trying to determine when a problem is spiritual and when a problem is mental. The article does not speak to how this determination is made and it is important to know more about it. How do we know when a person’s problem is caused by evil forces and when their problem is caused by maladaptive behavior or belief patterns or subtle disease issues? The Post article doesn’t go into detail, but does describe some typical scenarios where exorcism is deemed an appropriate treatment:
"Typical cases, he said, include people who turn away from the church and embrace New Age therapies, alternative religions or the occult. Internet addicts and yoga devotees are also at risk, he said."
As part of my past caseload as a psychotherapist, I worked with a patient with Dissociative Identity Disorder , better known as Multiple Personality Disorder. It was a very disorienting, difficult and heart-breaking case. One of the truly remarkable things about sitting with this patient was how she would shift between personalities during session. At one moment she’d act like a normal adult, and in the next moment, like a regressed and abused five year old. It would have been very easy to think that this patient was possessed by a demon or three or eight, and yet, to my mind, demons had nothing to do with why the patient acted as she did. Vicious abuse had a lot to do with it, as did a talent for dissociation and a strong survival instinct, but I never met a demon. Would Rev. Trojanowski have come to the same conclusion as I did? Would he refer such a patient for psychotherapy and psychiatric assistance, or would he view this sort of case as an instance of demon possession?
For that matter, how would Rev. Trojanowski triage a person experiencing auditory hallucinations and paranoid delusions characteristic of Schizophrenia ? There is, unfortunately, no shortage of faithful persons of every religious persuasion who have paranoid schizophrenia and sincerely believe they are being assaulted by demons. To my mind, however, what they are actually being assaulted by are subtle but disabling forms of brain damage and dysregulation.
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