Oxytocin and Autism Ranking:

Aims and Claims

Aims

Some researchers believe that synthetic oxytocin can be used help autistic individuals who have problems that may be caused by oxytocin deficiencies (such as difficulty making eye contact and poor emotion recognition skills).  

Claims 

There have been various claims made for the use of oxytocin for autistic people. For example,

• Auyeung et al (2015) claimed “Oxytocin administration selectively enhanced gaze to the eyes…”
• Aoki et al (2014) claimed “… oxytocin enhances the ability to understand others' social emotions...”
• Hollander et al (2003) claimed 'Patients with autism spectrum disorders showed a significant reduction in repetitive behaviors following oxytocin infusion…”

Updated

17 Jun 2022

Last Review

01 Nov 2017

Next Review

01 May 2024