Love hormone - oxytocin - could help treat psychiatric disorders such as autism and schizophrenia, according to new research.
Scientists have found encouraging evidence that oxytocin could be a useful treatment for certain mental health diagnoses - particularly those involving impaired social functioning.
Oxytocin is a neuropeptide hormone, most familiar for its role in initiating labour and breast milk flow in pregnant women.
Among other biological effects, oxytocin is "an important regulator of human social behaviours," according to the research review by Dr David Cochran of University of Massachusetts Medical School.
Cochran and colleagues found evidence of oxytocin's involvement in "social decision making, evaluating and responding to social stimuli, mediating social interactions, and forming social memories" in humans.
Based on these effects, researchers believe that oxytocin may be a common factor in certain psychiatric disorders.
Oxytocin may one day "be a useful treatment agent for improving some aspects of social cognition and for reducing repetitive behaviours" in patients with autism spectrum disorders, although studies are only in the early stages to fully evaluate clinical effectiveness, researchers found.
The authors also discussed a case report of significant reductions in autism severity with oxytocin, and the only controlled trial of long-term oxytocin treatment showed improvement in identifying emotions and quality of life measures.
Studies of oxytocin's relationship to schizophrenia have yielded conflicting results - associations with oxytocin-related genes don't appear as strong as for autism.
Nevertheless, some studies have suggested that oxytocin might be a helpful treatment for patients with schizophrenia, with trials reporting encouraging effects on schizophrenia severity and on social cognition.
Because oxytocin is involved in responses to stress, studies have also looked at its potential role in mood disorders and anxiety disorders.
"The evidence suggests a role of oxytocin in the pathophysiology of some psychiatric disorders, particularly those characterised by impairments in social functioning," Cochran and coauthors wrote.
"However, the preliminary nature of the currently available data precludes a clear understanding of the exact nature of this role," they said.
Thus, despite some promising results, it's much too early to conclude that oxytocin is a helpful treatment for autism, schizophrenia, or any other psychiatric disorder.
The review article was published in the journal Harvard Review of Psychiatry.
