We may like to think of ourselves as rational creatures, but in reality, the entire experience of being human is essentially the result of a plethora of chemicals swirling around in our brains.
Case in point?A team of doctors from Europe and Israel recently announced that interesting research,It was published in the magazine Psychozar PsychosomIn it, they gave lonely people oxytocin, the much-touted feel-good hormone released by things like physical intimacy, in the form of a nasal spray.
For people in social hardship, many researcherslove hormone” The results were very interesting.
Although participants did not report feelings of loneliness, stress, or decreased quality of life, did They report a reduction in acute loneliness. Although this is not a precise difference, it was clearly intriguing to researchers, especially since the effects appeared to persist for several months after treatment.
“The psychological intervention was associated with reductions in perceived stress and improvements in general loneliness in all treatment groups, which were still significant at three-month follow-up,” said the lead author of the paper. Professor Jana Lieberts said: At the University of Bonn in Germany, Press release regarding research.
Perhaps more intuitively, oxytocin is strongly associated with bonding, but the researchers also found that subjects given this hormone were less likely to interact with other subjects during group therapy sessions in which they participated. I also found it easier to connect.
“This is a very important observation that we made. Oxytocin was able to strengthen positive relationships with other members of the group and reduce acute feelings of loneliness in the first place,” Lieberts said. Ta. “Therefore, supporting patients about this at the start of psychotherapy can be helpful, as as soon as a problem is pointed out, patients may feel worse than they were before treatment started. Because we know that the effects observed with oxytocin administration may in turn help patients’ stay on the ball and continue. ”
Further research is clearly needed. The study was limited in size to just 78 participants, making it difficult to parse out the exact difference between “perceived” and “acute” loneliness that they reported.
But the doctors involved in the study were clearly interested, saying in a press release that the study “could help reduce feelings of loneliness, which are associated with many mental and physical illnesses.” written in the release.
While Lieberts “emphasizes that oxytocin should not be viewed as a panacea,” the release continues, “study results suggest that oxytocin can be used to achieve positive effects during interventions.” There is.
With a flurry of academic and commercial interest in the potential pharmaceutical benefits of everything from ketamine to MDMA, don’t be surprised if we see a flurry of interest in oxytocin in the coming years.
More about oxytocin: Scientists discover that dogs cry tears of joy when reunited with their owners
