Oxytocin and Repetitive Behavior in Autism
December 13, 2006 by Kristina Chew, PhD
Filed under Health
Oxytocin is a hormone that has been called the “trust hormone,” as it plays a role in bonding between parents and children and between adults. Eric Hollander, MD and Jennifer Bartz, PhD of the Mt. Sinai School of Medicine presented on a study in which oxytocin was administered to adults with autism and/or adults with Asperger’s Syndrome, both intravenously and using nasal technology, to see if it might have behavioral results. Hollander, who is the Director of the Seaver and New York Autism Center of Excellence, is quoted in a press release from EurekaAlert.org as saying:
Studies with animals have found that oxytocin plays a role in a variety of behaviors, including parent-child and adult-to-adult pair bonding, social memory, social cognition, anxiety reduction and repetitive behaviors……..However, we have only recently considered that administration of oxytocin can have behavioral effects. Autism is a particularly ripe neuropsychiatric disorder for studying this approach because it presents with the types of symptoms that have been found to be associated with the oxytocin system.”
The adults in the study were given pitocin (synthetic oxytocin) or a placebo (saline solution) over a four-hour period and “monitored for repetitive behaviors that are hallmarks of autism spectrum disorders including need to tell/ask, touching, and repeating.” A significant reduction in repetitive behaviors was found. Hollander notes that
“Repetitive behaviors are often overlooked as symptoms of autism in favor of more dramatic symptoms like disrupted social functioning…… However, early repetitive behavior is often the best predictor of a later autism diagnosis.
I find Hollander’s singling out of repetitive behaviors—-such as a child saying a phrase or word over and over and over, or an autistic person engaging in certain actions over and over—-as a sign of autism especially interesting. From speaking to other parents and from my experiences with my son Charlie, these kinds of behaviors are things that are not easy to help him with; they sometimes seem to foreshadow anxiety and even panic attacks. (I have wondered if Charlie might engage in the repetitive behavior as a way to calm himself down, though it sometimes seems that the more he talks about some desired item, the more his anxiety grows.) I have found this aspect of Hollander’s oxytocin research of interest, more than the suggestion that oxytocin might “help treat mind-blindness.”
Hollander’s research was presented on December 4th at the American College of Neuropsychopharmacology’s Annual Meeting in Nashville. An advance online edition of the study appeared in the August issue of Biological Psychiatry.
Yeah, pitocin’s great stuff.
IF it’s not being given to the body concurrently with a ruptured amniotic sac. Arguably, it’s still great stuff then, as well, but the person on the experience end of it may beg to differ.
I was given pitocin after being in labor with Charlie for several hours.
I was induced both times.
The combination of both ruptured amniotic sac plus pitocin is less than comfortable. One or the other alone, however, is quite reasonable.
(Both together with no anesthesia makes an episiotomy without anesthesia a walk in the park, comparatively speaking.)
My first reaction, too, was to remember the pitocin I got while in labor. I thought, “Gee, if this were given to a girl, would she get cramps? Bad ones?”
Oh, the pitocin isn’t bad if the amniotic sac isn’t ruptured yet. And if you’re not pregnant, there’s no amniotic sac to BE ruptured.
It’s just the combination that’s awful. (I’ve done it both ways, amniotic sac rupture first and pitocin first, and one or the other is fine, it’s the combo that’s the pain, literally.)
Only had Charlie so nothing to compare that too…….. he was a big baby and had a hard time of it. (Me, what can I say…..)
I have used oxytocin shots (on and off) for chronic fatigue for two or three years. I didn’t notice it really affecting my OCD one way or another, though. I temporarily stopped using it because it’s been difficult to get the exact right dose/timing. Even a little too much/or wrong time of day and it causes anxiety for me. If I go back on it again soon, I’ll pay attention to whether or not it affects the OCD. Also, I began taking it prior to all the “trust” stuff coming out. In fact, I was on it when those studies began hitting the media. I didn’t notice that in myself at all. However, it certainly did make me feel better overall.
My 21 y/o son has Asperger’s. Our DAN doctor decided to put him on nasal Oxytocin to help him with his social problems. OMG! He seemed to have lost all of his inhibitions and we had problems with him sending an inappropriate e-mail to an 11 y/o girl. The father of the girl wanted to call the police. That was over a week ago. We stopped the oxytocin, but we have noticed that he has become more child-like. Has anyone heard of these types of side-effects from the nasal oxytocin?
Melinda, thanks for sharing about this—-did the researchers let you know that these might be side effects? This website is about oxytocin and may say something about nasal oxytocin side-effects.
My son has Asperger’s and since he is 21, has gone through puberty. He has had some pretty interesting responses to some innocuous treatments, like epsoms salts bath. The idea of finding something that would help my son to feel more comfortable socially. We weren’t sure what his response would be to nasal oxytocin, but losing all of his inhibitions was not the desired response, as you can imagine.
I would think not—-I’ve never tried the epsom salt baths though did buy some once……