Oxytocin is best known for its role in creating social bonds, but it may also forge the chains of addiction.By: Maia Szalavitz
The "love hormone" oxytocin can relieve symptoms of withdrawal in people recovering from alcoholism, according to a small new study.
Research has long suggested that oxytocin-- called the "love" or "hug" hormone for its role in social bonding-- is a complicated chemical. It is released during orgasm and birth and other bonding moments between lovers or family members, but oxytocin may also help create the unhealthy ties that bind alcoholics and addicts to their drugs of choice.
Indeed, in rodents, oxytocin can successfully fight unpleasant alcohol and heroin withdrawal symptoms. And if given before the addiction even occurs, the hormone may even prevent the development of tolerance and symptoms of physical dependence.
The new study included 11 people with alcoholism severe enough to produce withdrawal symptoms, but not so severe that this withdrawal would produce potentially life-threatening seizures.
That was important, because during detox, people with alcoholism are typically given benzodiazepines. These are drugs like Valium (diazepam) or Ativan (lorazepam) and they relieve withdrawal symptoms, including seizures. People who suffer seizures must be given regular doses of the drugs; others can just take them as needed for comfort. The doses taken by those not at risk of seizures, consequently, provide a good measure of how bad the withdrawal is.
And oxytocin was found to help dramatically. Those given the hormone required nearly five times less lorazepam to get through detox, compared to those on placebo. They also had less anxiety.
"Our results are the first evidence that [oxytocin] may block alcohol withdrawal symptoms in humans," the authors write. They say, however, that the results should be considered "very preliminary" because of the extremely small number of participants.
Oxytocin itself is not addictive: most people given a nasal spray containing the hormone cannot distinguish it from placebo, although about 1/3 of men get erections and people do become more trusting and cooperative in some settings. It does not automatically cause people to fall in love either, at least not in any of the research conducted so far.
Continue Reading: time.com
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