Benefits of Oxytocin
The Benefit of Oxytocin the Cuddle Hormone in Anxiety
Oxytocin is a popular hormone. This it owes to its pleasurable feelings and good effects that it has physiologically or physically on both men and women. The effects of oxytocin on behavior and feelings of humans originate from the brain. The oxytocin hormone is produced by the hypothalamus after which it is transferred into the pituitary glands from where it is released into the bloodstream. The oxytocin hormone has its receptors in all the body parts. According to the American Psychological Association, levels of the oxytocin hormone tend to be higher during both stressful and socially bonding experiences,
“It’s like a hormone of attachment, you might say,” said Carol Rinkleib Ellison, a clinical psychologist in private practice in Loomis, California and former assistant clinical psychiatry professor at the University of California, San Francisco. “It creates feelings of calm and closeness.”
However, this hormone has more to offer than previously known in the past it was only associated with breastfeeding and childbirth but now researchers are waking up to the realization that this hormone has far more benefits than was known in the past. Even today there is a lot of research being done to unearth the benefits of oxytocin hormone. “We’re just learning more about it now,” Ellison confirms.
In the past oxytocin was once thought to be a hormone only associated with women where it was charged with the responsibility of setting up uterine contractions during labor and squeezing the uterus empty after birth. But now there is enough evidence that this hormone has effects on both men and women. Most of oxytocin is often released during orgasm in both sexes. This hormone is what enables the mother to love her new born child and also helps her in upbringing this child in love and care for all years to follow after the birth of the child.
Oxytocin and Anxiety
Oxytocin, the love hormone has since got linked to treatment of anxiety disorders. I suppose you know the conventional approaches to treatment of anxiety disorders; it involves use of antidepressants like Prozac and tranquilizers such as valium, medications that do not really work to achieve healing but rather aims at momentary relief from these disorders. But here seems to be an array of hope for those suffering from anxiety disorders. According to a research that was done by a former NARSAD grantee and members of an international research team, there is progress in understanding a new potential medical treatment for anxiety, which affects approximately 40 million American adults and many other people in different parts of the world.
This team of researchers looked at the anxiety-reducing effects of oxytocin. Oxytocin is a neurotransmitter also known as the “love hormone” or ‘the cuddle hormone’ for its ability to reduce stress and promote pro-social behaviors such as trust, empathy, and openness to social risk. The cuddle hormone has now been shown to make the amygdala less reactive to pictures of threatening or fearful faces. Past researches had identified the amygdala as a crucial brain area for emotional processing.
Oxytocin has influence on amygdala
The report of this research was published in the Neuropsychopharmacology on August 6th. The researchers expanded on previous work that had been able to show that oxytocin had remarkable influence on the amygdala. The research team was led by Stephanie M. Gorka, Ph.D., of the University of Illinois. Pradeep Nathan, Ph.D., of Cambridge University (formally Monash University), recipient of a 2007 NARSAD Independent Investigator grant was also part of this study. The team examined how oxytocin affects connections between the amygdala and other parts of the brain in people with anxiety disorder.
They observed that as study participants viewed fearful faces, brain scans with functional MRI showed that the amygdala communicated significantly less with other parts of the brain in those with generalized social anxiety, compared to those not diagnosed with anxiety disorder. The less connected the amygdala was to other brain regions, the higher the anxious participants’ baseline stress levels were. Importantly, oxytocin reversed those trends by increasing amygdala connectivity in anxiety patients, while decreasing amygdala connectivity in everyone else.
From the findings of this study, it can be seen that oxytocin can have specific effects in people with anxiety through its influence on the amygdala. More broadly, the fact that oxytocin had opposite effects in the two participant groups indicates that the neurotransmitter’s success in reducing stress and promoting social behavior depends on individual brain characteristics, which differ between those with anxiety and those without the disorder. Thus, while oxytocin continues to show promise as a potential treatment for anxiety, it may not promote positive social behaviors in everyone but still it is a choice worth trying.
However, the findings of this research are preliminary and therefore to better assess how presumed changes in the brain influence actual experiences of anxiety, there is need for further research preferably on a larger scope to test oxytocin on more people with and without anxiety disorders.
Lastly, anxiety disorders are present, they have become a part of our lives but they really do not benefit us; they hurt us. You therefore must seek treatment whenever you fall victim. Dr. Dalal Akoury (MD) an expert in integrative and regenerative medicine will be able to help. Visit us at AWAREmed Health and Wellness Resource Centre at Myrtle Beach, South Carolina.
The Benefit of Oxytocin the Cuddle Hormone in Anxiety
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