Oxytocin and Autism Ranking:

Risks and Safety

Hazards

According to the BNF website, accessed on 29 September 2017, there are a number of potential side effects when using oxytocin but these are mostly related to the use of infusions or injections during childbirth so may not be relevant to autistic people.

Common or very common side effects may include arrhythmia (irregular heartbeat); headache; nausea; vomiting.

According to the Society for Endocrinology website, accessed on 29 September 2017, 

“At present, the implications of having too much oxytocin are not clear. High levels have been linked to benign prostatic hyperplasia, a condition which affects the prostate in more than half of men over the age of 50. This may cause difficulty in passing urine.”

Contraindications

There are some contraindications (something which makes a particular treatment or procedure potentially inadvisable for certain groups of people) for oxytocin. For example, according to Drugs.com website, accessed on 29 September 2017, 

“A total of 284 drugs (2816 brand and generic names) are known to interact with oxytocin”. 

This means that anyone taking oxytocin should take extra care in case it reacts badly with one of those other drugs. 

There is also some research which suggests that oxytocin may actually increase fear and anxiety in some people rather than reducing it. For example, according to Watanabe et al (2014), 

“Some previous studies with [typically developing] participants reported that oxytocin increased defensive responses to negative emotional stimuli and induced avoidance of positive stimuli in a certain condition. These studies imply that repeated administration of oxytocin might induce highly functioning individuals with ASD to hold overdefensive attitudes to emotionally negative information.”

Updated

17 Jun 2022

Last Review

01 Nov 2017

Next Review

01 May 2024