Researchers have revealed through a new study that hormone oxytocin, which is commonly known as love hormone, is behaviourally very similar to alcohol as the former alleviates social inhibitors including fear, anxiety and stress like alcohol.
University of Birmingham researchers have established through a study, published in Neuroscience and Biobehavioral Reviews, that oxytocin and alcohol have a similar effect on our actions to a great extent. Oxytocin is said to increase prosocial behaviours including altruism, generosity and empathy, while also making us more trustworthy towards others.
It has also been established that oxytocin’s socio-cognitive effects come about by suppressing the action of prefrontal and limbic cortical circuits thereby removing the brakes on social inhibitors such as fear, anxiety and stress.
This particular aspect motivated researchers including Dr Ian Mitchell, from the School of Psychology at the University of Birmingham, to dig deeper, following which they pooled existing research into the effects of both oxytocin and alcohol and found incredible similarities between the two compounds.
Dr Mitchell revealed that though both the compounds appear to target different receptors within the brain, they cause common actions on GABA transmission in the prefrontal cortex and the limbic structures. These neural circuits are responsible for control on how we perceive stress or anxiety, especially in social situations such as interviews, or perhaps even plucking up the courage to ask somebody on a date. When compounds such as oxytocin and alcohol are taken, they make the situations seemingly less daunting.
Giving an example of summoning a little ‘Dutch courage’ before some specific social situations such a first date by having a drink, researchers said that oxytocin appears to mirror these effects in the lab.
When administered nasally, oxytocin appears to closely mirror the well-established effects of alcohol consumption. However the researchers warn against self-medicating with either the hormone or a swift drink to provide a little more confidence in difficult moments.
Alcohol has less desirable socio-cognitive effects alongside its more harmful effects on our overall health and researchers say that oxytocin might have the same effect. People can become more aggressive, more boastful, envious of those they consider to be their competitors, and favour their in-group at the expense of others. Both alcohol and oxytocin can affect our sense of fear which normally acts to protect us from getting into trouble and we often hear of people taking risks that they otherwise wouldn’t.
Researchers further say that a dose of either compound can further influence how we deal with others by enhancing our perception of trustworthiness, which would further increase the danger of taking unnecessary risks.
Dr Gillespie added, “I don’t think we’ll see a time when oxytocin is used socially as an alternative to alcohol. But it is a fascinating neurochemical and, away from matters of the heart, has a possible use in treatment of psychological and psychiatric conditions. Understanding exactly how it suppresses certain modes of action and alters our behaviour could provide real benefits for a lot of people. Hopefully this research might shed some new light on it and open up avenues we hadn’t yet considered.”
