Do We Lack the "Love Hormone"????

Post Reply New Topic

No, we don’t all lack the “love hormone.”

Just read the Love and Dating session. The desire for “love” is pervasive.

Did you just read the subject headline or the article and follow up posts?

There's actual evidence to suggest that some on the spectrum do in fact lack Oxytocin & that supplementing it is in fact beneficial to treating their ASD symptoms.

Did you read what I wrote

That was unnecessarily snarky.

I said that not ALL people with autism lack the “love hormone.”

I feel like it’s a f****d up stereotype. I wish to dispel it.

I am sick of the snarky attitudes, frankly.

I read it, but missed the word "all," hence my response.

Read more carefully, then.

I’m just sick of the snark.

We are not emotionless creatures.

We are human.

We are sick of the bullies.

We want friendship and love.

Most of the time, the expression of a lack of desire for friendship reads like a defensive philosophical stance.

Just like radical politics is defensive, rather than proactive, in nature.

And with being human comes making mistakes, like missing a word when reading, for instance.

That’s why snark is unnecessary.

It’s just that I would deserve to be criticized, should I not read carefully.

The hormone oxytocin also explains one of the interesting quirks or mysteries related to Asperger’s Syndrome; that is the unequal ratio between males and females with Asperger’s. This ratio is often cited by professionals as approximately one female to every four males. Female bodies are designed to release this hormone; but males not-so-much-so. The two main functions of oxytocin in the body are contraction of the womb (uterus) during childbirth and lactation. Therefore in females, their natural release of this hormone helps to inhibit anti-social traits when they are subjected to major stress loads. It allows them to simulate social skills and blend in with NTs and mask some of their negative Aspie traits. Males lack this natural advantage.


Goldfish21 mentioned stimulating oxytocin production in males.

According to the Internet:
In the male mammal, the small peptide hormone oxytocin is produced in similar quantities within the hypothalamo-pituitary magnocellular system as in the female, yet for the male little is known about the physiology associated with this hormone. The present review summarizes what is known about the function of oxytocin in the male mammal and tries to take account of both central and systemic effects, and those linked with a local production of oxytocin within the male reproductive organs. In several species a pulse of systemic oxytocin, presumably of hypothalamic origin, appears to be associated with ejaculation. The systemic hormone could act peripherally stimulating smooth muscle cells of the male reproductive tract, but could also reflect central effects in the brain modulating sexual behaviour.

Source: Oxytocin and male reproductive function.

So maybe when a male is subjected to extreme stress in which he exhibits rage and anger and other anti-social traits, he might feel the need to ejaculate in order to release oxytocin and normalize his anti-social traits.

There are different ways to measure oxytocin levels.

The best and most accurate is to measure the levels of oxytocin in cerebrospinal fluid, which bathes the brain. This is a very invasive procedure. Collecting CSF requires an invasive lumbar puncture procedure, in which a needle is inserted into the space around the spine.

Another method is to test oxytocin levels in the blood. Scientist were unsure how well these measurements reflected the hormone’s levels in the central nervous system. The new study shows that, although oxytocin levels are consistently lower in blood than in CSF, the levels of the hormone in the two are linked. So blood tests are an accurate means of measuring oxytocin. Source: Oxytocin levels in blood, cerebrospinal fluid are linked, study finds

Other methods such as measuring oxytocin in urine and in saliva appear to be much less reliable.

But another recent discovery in blood analysis has occurred. They found that most of the oxytocin in blood is essentially invisible (not being measured) because it is bound to proteins. This is about a 100 to 1 ration. Therefore to get an exact measurement in blood requires a robust nano liquid chromatography-mass spectrometry. So very accurate test still may be a ways off. Source: “Love Hormone” Oxytocin 100 Times Higher in Blood Than Previously Thought

It takes much more than oxytocin to create love.

Just injecting oxytocin probably wouldn’t do the trick.

Most people with Asperger’s/autism probably have enough, anyway.

Like in psychiatry, more than pharmaceutical intervention is needed.

Looking for that “one cause” of autism will not yield the paramount solution to autism. Autism has many causes.

One can’t magically “create” the feeling of love through the injection of neurotransmitters.

All of these statements look like complete guesses on your part vs. actual fact.

You sound almost anti-treatment. And if you are for yourself, that's fine, but why discourage others from doing a little self experimentation to see if it helps them? It's not as if there's some medical risk to having a little bump of a natural hormone that makes people feel good. Maybe you're not intending to discourage that, but it comes off that way.

It’s obvious to me, based upon the folks in WP, that “lack of oxytocin” does not lie at the roots of the symptom system of autism.

In order for it to work optimally, one, perhaps, would have to be injected with oxytocin around birth, then receive injections throughout life. Like with many disorders of metabolism. Like with PKU.

I’m not anti-treatment. I’m pro person-centered therapy.

Anyway. I still don’t believe “lack of oxytocin” lies at the root of autism.

Last edited by kraftiekortie on 25 Feb 2019, 8:39 am, edited 1 time in total.