Oxytocin study

[Ella]

Anyone heard anything about this?  My mom mentioned this study in passing; apparently it was part of the medical segment on the local news.  Participants, with social phobia, of course, were administered oxytocin via a nasal spray and had remarkable results with it.

[Batou]

From a MedScape search on social phobia and oxytocin: Could this be what you you have heard?

Erika

Why does social exclusion hurt? The relationship between social and physical pain.

Macdonald G; Leary MR

School of Psychology, University of Queensland, St. Lucia, QLD, Australia. geoff@psy.uq.edu.au.

The authors forward the hypothesis that social exclusion is experienced as painful because reactions to rejection are mediated by aspects of the physical pain system. The authors begin by presenting the theory that overlap between social and physical pain was an evolutionary development to aid social animals in responding to threats to inclusion. The authors then review evidence showing that humans demonstrate convergence between the 2 types of pain in thought, emotion, and behavior, and demonstrate, primarily through nonhuman animal research, that social and physical pain share common physiological mechanisms. Finally, the authors explore the implications of social pain theory for rejection-elicited aggression and physical pain disorders.

[Ella]

I don't know.  It's an interesting article...

Finally, the authors explore the implications of social pain theory for rejection-elicited aggression and physical pain disorders.

Rejection-elicited aggression is something I'm very familiar with.  If you want to see me turn into a raging psycho, make me feel like an outcast.  Those are the times when I start screaming, and/or turn on myself and self-injure. 

I don't know much about oxytocin except that it helps generate a sense of trust (and you get a shot of it when you hug someone).  The theory behind the oxytocin supplementation being a lack of trust in our fellow human beans, I suppose.  But if you have poor judgment, I would think you could very well end up trusting the wrong people  It doesn't strike me as an ideal treatment for social phobia, but I guess it could prove helpful for certain people.

[Batou]

It doesn't strike me as an ideal treatment for social phobia, but I guess it could prove helpful for certain people.

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Does not sound to me like anything more than a hypothesis right now. So, promising treatment, I tend to doubt it. I think SSRIs, some benzos, and cognitive behavioral or behavioral therapy are still the best treatment for Social Anxiety/phobis for now.

Erika