A team of researchers working
under the guidance of the University of Bonn Hospital in a recent study showed
that the bonding
hormone oxytocin inhibits the fear center in the brain and
allows fear stimuli to subside more easily. The hope is that this research will
provide the basis for future treatment of anxiety disorders.
Significant fear can become
entrenched in a person’s brain with individuals involved in car accidents providing
a key example. Individuals involved in car accidents often find it very
difficult to handle street traffic after their accident due to significant
anxiety. Scientists refer to this as conditioning where certain images or
noises, such as screeching tires, are associated in the brain with pain or
fear.
Overtime the original contents of
the fearful memory are not erased; however, positive experiences overtake the
original memory through the process of extinction. Nonetheless, if encountered
with a dangerous situation similar to the original fear, the original fear
comes back.
Dr. René Hurlemann from the Department
of Psychiatry and Psychotherapy of the University of Bonn Hospital stated, “Oxytocin
actually reinforces extinction: Under its influence, the expectation of
recurrent fear subsequently abates to a greater extent than without this
messenger.”
Specifically the team of
researchers showed various images to 62 male patients. For 70 percent of the images
the research subjects received a very brief electrical shock to their hand via
electrodes. When the images, where the electrical shock was experienced, were viewed
again anxiety was noted in the tests subject’s brains. For the second portion of
the study half of the test subjects received oxytocin via a nasal spray while
the other half received a placebo.
After receiving either the
oxytocin or the placebo the patients were shown the same images as before;
however, this time there were no electrical shocks experienced. In those
patients who received the oxytocin the amygdala, fear center in the brain, was
far less active than in the control group who received the placebo. In those patients
that received the placebo the fear-inhibiting regions were more stimulated. The
researchers hope that with the aid of oxytocin anxiety patients can be helped
more quickly and that a relapses can be prevented more easily.
This article was very interesting
because anxiety is something that is often overlooked and forgotten about. It’s
clear that something that happens every day, such as car accidents, can have a
long lasting effect on an individual even after the physical injuries have
subsided. I am curious to see the results of further clinical trials that have
larger sample sizes and potentially with patients with severe anxiety disorders
to see how well oxytocin alleviates the anxiety in these patients.
