Prosocial effects of oxytocin and clinical evidence for its therapeutic potential

OXT often facilitates approach behaviors, although this can be context- and person-dependent.

“The prosocial actions of OXT often involve facilitation of approach behaviors (Hurlemann et al., 2010;Kemp and Guastella, 2011;Striepens et al., 2011), although this can be context-and person-dependent (Bartz et al., 2011)”

Many studies show ameliorating effects of oxytocin on psychological stress and psychiatric disorders.

“Many studies show ameliorating effects of oxytocin on psychological stress and psychiatric disorders (Striepens et al., 2011; Macdonald and Feifel, 2013).”

Extant literature has shown that OXT enhances social processing in typically developing adults (enhanced eye contact, better emotion recognition in faces) immediately after its administration.

“Extant literature has shown that OXT enhances social processing in typically developing adults (enhanced eye contact, better emotion recognition in faces) immediately after its administration [74].”

Exogenous oxytocin administration has wide ranging prosocial effects.

“Largely as a result of the reported wide ranging prosocial effects of exogenous OXT administration (Eckstein and Hurlemann, 2013; Scheele et al, 2013; Striepens et al, 2011), the OXT system is considered to be a promising drug target for pharmacological treatment of the various symptoms of social impairment in ASD, including reduced interest in giving or receiving social touch.”

Intranasal oxytocin (OXT) facilitates empathy.

“Converging evidence suggests that the hypothalamic neuropeptide oxytocin (OXT) facilitates empathy (Rosenfeld et al., 2011; Striepens et al., 2011; Riem, 2012).”

Oxytocin pharmacotherapy alone will probably have only limited long-term beneficial effects on pro-social functioning.

“most recent literature reviews conclude that oxytocin pharmacotherapy alone will probably have only limited long-term beneficial effects on pro-social functioning [120,149,152,164].”

Oxytocin can extensively modulate human social behavior and affective processing.

“The neuropeptide oxytocin can extensively modulate human social behavior and affective processing”

The observed inhibitory effects of OT on striatum and AI activity conflict with previous findings that OT-induced alterations on human social behavior are associated with increased activity in the striatum and AI.

“and some previous findings that OT-induced alterations on human social behavior are associated with increased activity in the striatum and AI (Baumgartner et al., 2008; Strathearn et al., 2009; Striepens et al., 2011; Yao et al., 2018).”