Oxytocin and Autism Ranking:

Current Research

We have identified more than 20* studies into the effectiveness of oxytocin for autistic people published in English-language, peer-reviewed journals.

These studies included more than 500 individuals aged from three years old to 56 years old. However, only three of these studies looked at primary school children, the majority looked at adults and adolescents.

All of the group studies compared oxytocin with a placebo and the dosages of oxytocin varied from 16 IU (international unit) to 48 IU per day.  Approximately half of the group studies used a single dose on a single day and approximately half used multiple doses (usually one or two a day) over several weeks (between 4 to 12 weeks).  One of the single case design studies increased the dosage from 8 IU to 16 IU and then to 24 IU over several months. The majority of studies administered oxytocin via a nasal spray but three of them administered it via an intravenous drip.

• Some of the studies (such as Auyeung et al, 2015) reported that oxytocin increased the amount of time that some participants spent gazing at other people’s eyes.
• Some of the studies (such as Aoki et al, 2014) reported that oxytocin improved some participants’ ability to understand other people’s social emotions.
• Some of the studies (such as Hollander et al, 2003) reported that oxytocin helped to reduce repetitive behaviours in some participants.
• Some of the studies (such as Dadds et al, 2014) reported that oxytocin produced very limited or mixed results.

*Please note: We have not included studies with fewer than three autistic participants or which did not report behavioural or cognitive outcomes. So, for example, we have not included studies such as Domes et al. (2013) which only reported on changes in brain activity.

Updated

17 Jun 2022

Last Review

01 Nov 2017

Next Review

01 May 2024