“Oxytocin, a hormone often referred to as the “cuddle chemical” for its role in helping to foster intimate relationships—particularly between mothers and their newborns—may help people with autism to read and react to social cues, according to the preliminary results of a small study published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. Individuals with autism spectrum disorders often have trouble engaging and interacting in social situations, frequently avoiding eye contact, for example, and previous research has also shown that people who are autistic often have lower levels of the hormone oxytocin. In this recent study, researchers from France’s Center of Cognitive Neuroscience used nasal inhalers to give oxytocin to 13 individuals with high-functioning autism or Asperger’s syndrome. Afterwards, the researchers examined the study participants’ reactions to social stimuli. They found that, after the oxytocin, the subjects showed significant improvement on social tasks—including making more eye contact when shown pictures of faces, and responding to other players in a ball tossing game.”
Read more at The Times (thanks, Tammy)
"
Great to see some developments in this area. I work with children and adults on the autistic spectrum and I’m always keen to see new areas of research. Thanks for posting this xx
“preliminary results of a small study” = Needs more study before reporting to the general public.
I can see desperate parents demanding oxytocin inhalers from their GPs right now.
Did we learn nothing from Andrew Wakefield and the MMR debacle?
Would be great ofcourse, if the cure would have been that simple, or will be, I should say. If the results really showed such significance difference .. for some reason I doubt that. It could be more wishfull thinking, manipulating things they see after having thought about what they wished to happen .. focussing therefor less objective. Humans have trouble with that in these type of research settings. Did they know the subjects well enough? Weren’t they manipulated too much already by then? Type of autism? Autism from birth on?
What about those with too high levels of oxytocin, will they become autistic as well but for a different reason? Or are those the sticky type of people from below … A bit too dependent.
A study on a whole 13 people? Wow, scientific.
cuddle chemical? i thought that was ecstacy!
This is an interesting study. However, as the parent of an autistic child, I resent the implication by ‘Kate’ that this means that I am desperate. Yes, living with someone who is autistic can be difficult and there are days when it is especially hard to cope but that does not mean that I would rush out and fill my son with chemicals on the basis of one report about one small study. It would be interesting to see what the results of a larger study showed.
interesting study: Oxytocin It is best known for its roles in female reproduction,
implication male patients?
It worked wonders on one of my partner’s egg-bound tortoises a few years ago. Never seen a tortoise smiling so much!
Mother: It’s not random ‘chemicals’, it’s a hormone your own body produces. It’s not that dangerous, afaik.
lifenurses: It may be best known for that, but it’s also found in the male brain where it aids partner/family bonding, so I imagine that if there is any effect, there will be one on males as well.
I’m not that sold on the idea, though — have been reading about this for years, sometimes they find it does something, sometimes they find no significant results.
On the other hand, it does increase trust, and that may help. I can’t speak for other people with Asperger’s, but as for myself, I used to not look people in the face because it instinctively feels hostile/aggressive to me to do so. I’ve since learned that it’s not, but that was why I avoided it when I was younger.
Berber Anna – I didn’t say it was an unnatural chemical. I know it’s a hormone and even if I didn’t, the article states it quite clearly. My point was that I don’t want to give my son anything that he doesn’t need. He has been offered melatonin to help him go to sleep at night but as he doesn’t have a problem going to sleep at the moment, I don’t see the point in him having it. Similarly if oxytocin does not work (and there doesn’t appear to be enough evidence to prove that it does or doesn’t) I am not silly enough to rush to our GP and request it on the basis of one small study.
Autism is a spectrum disorder, however, more and more, Severe autism is not being shown to the public. There is a great video on you tube called “severe autism when there is no answer” The video is made by a man with Aspergers (a fellow aspie) who also has an autistic son. Very enlightening. Youll be surprised.
Mother of an autistic child wrote: “… as the parent of an autistic child, I resent the implication by ‘Kate’ that this means that I am desperate.”
I didn’t mean to imply that all parents of autistic children are desperate. I too am the mother of an autistic teen and in no way desperate.
That said, as a member of the autism community, I have encountered a great many desperate parents, usually those whose children have just been diagnosed. They are certainly desperate enough to put their children through unproven and sometimes dangerous therapies. They keep book publishers who blame mothers, fathers, and even aliens (Google Indigo and Crystal Children) rolling in money.
Apologies for not being clearer in my comment. I hope it didn’t ruin your day.
I don’t know what relationship you’ve got to Autism, but I have Asperger myself, and two of my three kids have been diagnosed as Aspies, I recent the very idea of even ** looking ** for a cure…!
Sure I understand that LFA’s, or people with additional diagnoses might have problems and that these might benefit from a symptom relief treatment, but I consider myself lucky to be an Aspie…!
I am probably one of the smartest and talented persons I’ve met in my entire life, ** BECAUSE ** of being an Aspie, but society unfortunately perceive my IQ and talent as a disease…!
I find the very notion of being able to believe that me and my kids are “sick” a personal insult, sizeof(Eugenics)…!
Send the “cure people” to Aushwitchs, I am sure they’ll feel at home there …
DIFFERENT NOT LESS!!
PS!
http://thelightbringer.org/aspie-pride
Thomas: I’m glad that you aren’t bothered by the fact that you have Asperger’s syndrome, but I can assure you that there are HF autistic people — myself included — that would really like a ‘cure’ (in so far as a neurological disorder can be cured).
I would love to understand other people, to not feel like they’re using a secret language that I don’t speak. I would love to be able to cope more easily with changes in my life that I LIKE, but that cause fears and phobias in me simply because I am bound to routine by this disorder. I would love to be able to just hang out in a busy store without feeling overwhelmed by all sounds, smells, and movements around me.
I don’t think my IQ is a result of my high functioning autism. It’s merely the reason I’m not diagnosed as low functioning.
Ref; “I don’t think my IQ is a result of my high functioning autism. It’s merely the reason I’m not diagnosed as low functioning.”
I think you most likely are wrong here. I think your IQ is ** closely ** related to your ability to focus on the same problem over great times of length, your ability to think in images and your great memory. All these are “side effects” of being an Aspie.
Treat one of the sides, and loose the other. A cure for Aspie would most likely put your IQ down to “normal levels”…
I’d rather keep my analytical skills and IQ and be a little bit less socially talented… But as I said for people with huge paranoia for social contexts and completely locked out of being able to do anything “practical”, I can see the problem, but these problems Einstein had too …
I’m actually more of a verbal thinker, though I have a visual memory. I’m not too fond of my memory, though, as it has the wonderful tendency to emphasize stressful moments. I have to think harder to remember the good ones. From what I’ve read, this is fairly common in autistic people. Also, my ability to focus at great length? Yeah, only when I’m REALLY into something. I’m fairly easily distracted by random stimuli otherwise.
My IQ is related to creativity and problem solving ability, language skills and logical thinking. My non-autistic family members have similarly high IQs. I don’t think it’s related in any significant way, other than me having Asperger’s rather than classical autism or PDD-NOS.
And no offense meant, but I’d rather not be called ‘Aspie’. I’m a person with Asperger’s.
Addendum: I’m not ‘hugely paranoid’ of social contexts, and I have job as well as a Master’s degree, so I think the practical side of things is well covered, too. Still, I’d like to be able to live a normal life, without feeling weird and stressed out far too often. I don’t dislike my life as such, but if there were a ‘magical cure’, I would give it serious thought.
I’m a high-functioning autistic too, and Derren’s work helped me a bit in an odd sort of way. For years, I thought that everyone could read people perfectly except me, and I was scared of interacting with other people and accidentally offending people or saying the wrong thing when they could read everything I was thinking.
I remember seeing Trick of the Mind and thinking, “well, that’s really cool. But can’t everyone else do that?”, and it was a massive revelation to find that no, they really can’t. So while I’m still learning how to read facial expressions and gestures etc., I know that I don’t have to worry about being perfect at it.