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