Love hormone cure for fear, study says
Published: December 18, 2005
Love and trust really can conquer fear and anxiety.
Scientists have long been intrigued by the hormone oxytocin, which plays a role in complex social behavior. The hormone is part of a system in the brain that controls the formation of emotional bonds, and plays a role during sex, childbirth and breastfeeding.
Now, scientists at the National Institutes for Health and Justus-Liebig University in Germany have discovered that oxytocin can make volunteers less fearful.
In a paper published in the Journal of Neuroscience, researchers found that volunteers who had oxytocin sprayed into their noses had less fear response than those given a placebo.
Volunteers’ fear reactions revealed less activity in the part of the brain known as the amygdala.
Diminished activity in the amygdala long has been linked to increased sociability and decreased fear, wrote the researchers, whose work was funded by the National Institute of Mental Health.
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