“And it seems to me perfectly in the cards that there will be within the next generation or so a pharmacological method of making people love their servitude, and producing …a kind of painless concentration camp for entire societies, so that people will in fact have their liberties taken away from them but will rather enjoy it, because they will be distracted from any desire to rebel by propaganda, brainwashing, or brainwashing enhanced by pharmacological methods.”
- Aldous Huxley, 1959
“We hope and indeed we expect that we can improve sociability by administering oxytocin.”
- Dr Thomas Baumgartner, Zurich University
People who inhaled the “love hormone” oxytocin continued to trust strangers with their money – even after they were betrayed.
A nasal spray which increases our trust for strangers is showing promise as a treatment for social phobia, say scientists from Zurich University.
They found that people who inhaled the “love hormone” oxytocin continued to trust strangers with their money – even after they were betrayed.
Brain scans showed the hormone lowered activity in the amygdala – a region which is overactive in social phobics.
Drug trials are underway and early signs are promising say the scientists.
Nicknamed the “cuddle chemical”, oxytocin is a naturally produced hormone, which has been shown to play a role in social relations, maternal bonding, and also in sex.
Lead researcher Dr Thomas Baumgartner said: “We now know for the first time what exactly is going on in the brain when oxytocin increases trust.
“We found that oxytocin has a very specific effect in social situations. It seems to diminish our fears.
“Based on our results, we can now conclude that a lack of oxytocin is at least one of the causes for the fear experienced by social phobics.
“We hope and indeed we expect that we can improve their sociability by administering oxytocin.”
Powerful effect
Previous studies have shown that participants in “trust games” took greater risks with their money after inhaling the hormone via a nasal spray.
In this latest experiment, published in the journal Neuron, the researchers asked volunteer subjects to take part in a similar trust game.
They were asked to contribute money to a human trustee, with the understanding that the trustee would invest the money and decide whether to return the profits or betray the subjects trust by keeping the profit.
The subjects also received doses of oxytocin or a placebo via a nasal spray.
After investing, the participants were given feedback on the trustees. When their trust was abused, the placebo group became less willing to invest. But the players who had been given oxytocin continued to trust their money with a broker.
“We can see that oxytocin has a very powerful effect,” said Dr Baumgartner.
“The subjects who received oxytocin demonstrated no change in their trust behaviour, even though they were informed that their trust was not honoured in roughly 50% of cases.”
In a second game, where the human trustees were replaced by a computer which gave random returns, the hormone made no difference to the players’ investment behaviour.
“It appears that oxytocin affects social responses specifically related to trust,” Dr Baumgartner said.
Defence barriers
During the games, the players’ brains were scanned using functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI).
The researchers found that oxytocin reduced activity in two regions which act as natural “defence barriers”.
They are the amygdala, which processes fear and danger, and an area of the striatum, which helps to guide future behaviour, based on reward feedback.
The amygdala has been found to be extremely active in the brains of sufferers of social phobia.
Dr Baumgartner’s colleague, Professor Markus Heinrichs, has begun a study where social phobia sufferers are given either oxytocin or a placebo, in combination with cognitive and behavioural therapy.
The trials are ongoing, but Dr Baumgartner said that early signs appear “promising”.
The hormone could also be a candidate for treating patients with autism, he says.
“Autistic people also have a fear of social situations and have problems interacting, so it is very likely that oxytocin could help,” he said.
“This hormone seems to play a very specific role in social situations so might be able to improve autism. But so far I am not aware of any studies.”
Mauricio Delgado, a psychologist at Rutgers University, said: “This study has significant implications for understanding mental disorders where deficits in social behaviour are observed.
“While a degree of wariness may protect one from harm, being able to ”forgive and forget” is an imperative step in maintaining long-term relationships.
“The reported oxytocin finding could provide a bridge for potential clinical applications.”
8 responses so far ↓
wil // May 24, 2008 at 2:33 am
Great for riots and FEMA camps!
Trust drug may cure social phobia // May 24, 2008 at 3:09 am
[...] pjwalker911 Blogged something interesting today on aftermathnews.wordpress.comThe first few lines…. [...]
wil // May 26, 2008 at 1:45 am
“While a degree of wariness may protect one from harm, being able to ”forgive and forget” is an imperative step in maintaining long-term relationships.
Depends what’s being forgiven and forgotten. When I used to do it big time–I just got slapped twice, so to speak.
And these families losing loved ones to gang or whatever violence–I want to scream when they passively say they forgive and bear no ill feelings. I wish for once they’d scream and say they’re dedicating their lives to working against the groups or conditions that bred the violence.
Actually people probably do say that, but get edited out.
george in Toronto // May 26, 2008 at 4:11 pm
Where do you buy this stuf-? Tend to use it on my cheap motherinlaw :^)
Akston // May 28, 2008 at 10:13 pm
The same thing occurred to me when I read this story. Just another step down the road to the pharma society.
“Our children will live, Mr. Beale, to see that perfect world in which there’s no war or famine, oppression or brutality – one vast and ecumenical holding company, for whom all men will work to serve a common profit, in which all men will hold a share of stock – all necessities provided, all anxieties tranquilized, all boredom amused. And I have chosen you, Mr. Beale, to preach this evangel.”
Anxiety disorder Social Phobia // June 9, 2008 at 6:02 pm
[...] Trust drug may cure social phobia [...]
Michelene Benson // August 22, 2008 at 7:52 am
Ahhh! Yes! Just one sniff and all our fears, memories are gone – instant joy without any effort. We have come a long way from instant coffee haven’t we? No need to change human nature so people would start trusting each other, being friends, and loving and caring for one another. A simple sniff and you are like the Creator – able to love and trust unconditionally!
We are all social phobics whether it manifests as a psychological condition or not. For social phobics it is perhaps extreme and obvious. However, we have all been hurt and disappointed. The desire to protect ourselves from further hurt and the fear of more disappointment infects us all with varying degrees of “social phobia”. This is our nature.
Altering the chemicals in the body and thereby suppressing or arousing physical sensations do not change our nature. And it is our nature we need to change if we desire lasting and true joy.
Michael Laitman (http://www.laitman.com/2008/05/take-a-sniff-and-become-like-the-creator/) comments on this oxytocin treatment and related articles explaining that we must correct our nature if we hope to experience absolute love and bestowal. These are not physical qualities and cannot be attained through any physical means. They are spiritual qualities and only by attracting the influence from Above – the Upper Light – can we correct our nature.
pjwalker911 // August 22, 2008 at 4:59 pm
Right, but first we as a society have to wake up to and then remove the psychopathic social conditioning that is being handed down to us by the aristocracy through every institution. The first step is waking up to the big picture.