Oxytocin & other ways to boost emotional expression

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20 Feb 2013, 12:10 pm

Has anyone tried oxytocin spray for improving emotional perception? I am looking for a natural remedy to improve emotional expression as well (reduce flat affect), but I'm not finding much information.

Study on oxytocin and autism: http://www.autismspeaks.org/science/sci ... s-oxytocin

However, what would be nice is something to improve emotional expression as well. There has got to be something that drama people use.

Cacao
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20 Feb 2013, 12:20 pm

Maybe just interacting with people and talking to people may help raise level of oxytocine in natural way. Not sure.

Tyri0n
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20 Feb 2013, 12:29 pm

Cacao wrote:

Maybe just interacting with people and talking to people may help raise level of oxytocine in natural way. Not sure.

Sure, it does. But my theory is that more people will want to talk to you if you already sound like someone worth talking to (someone who can express and understand emotion, etc.). If you have a problem in this area to begin with, just talking to people might not do much good (it's not enough for one), and not only that it will be harder because fewer people will want to talk to you.

I already talk to many people every day and go out with others about every other weekend, so I doubt just socializing more would have a noticeable effect in my case.

arielhawksquill
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20 Feb 2013, 1:33 pm

Are you seeking to experience more emotions internally, or are you seeking to exhibit those emotions externally? Oxytocin and the other drugs and hormones you have been inquiring about can make you feel different on the inside. They will not make you move your face, eyes, and body more like a neurotypical in order to express those emotions, however. Your acting classes will be of much more use there.

Ettina
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20 Feb 2013, 6:55 pm

I think oxytocin acts on affective empathy, not cognitive empathy, which would make it ineffective for autism.

Tyri0n
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20 Feb 2013, 7:51 pm

Ettina wrote:

I think oxytocin acts on affective empathy, not cognitive empathy, which would make it ineffective for autism.

I have issues with both.

Ettina
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20 Feb 2013, 8:03 pm

Quote:

I have issues with both.

So you're autistic and a psychopath, then? Affective empathy deficit has nothing to do with autism.

Tyri0n
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20 Feb 2013, 8:11 pm

Ettina wrote:

Quote:

I have issues with both.

So you're autistic and a psychopath, then? Affective empathy deficit has nothing to do with autism.

Quote:

Affective empathy is the ability to sense what another person is emotionally experiencing.

http://drdeborahserani.blogspot.com/201 ... ctive.html

I am not a psychopath.

Affective empathy includes the ability to perceive another's mood and connect it to its source. I don't think I'm the only one who struggles with this problem or has struggles with how to respond--and is sometimes perceived as cold-- when someone is upset about something.

By the way, after a few days of taking noopept, I am feeling and expressing nearly all emotions more strongly. I wonder what the connection is between nootropics, emotion, and autism.

Last edited by Tyri0n on 20 Feb 2013, 8:26 pm, edited 1 time in total.

Ettina
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20 Feb 2013, 8:25 pm

Quote:

Not being able to recognize other's emotions or connect other's emotions to their source does not make one a psychopath.

That's cognitive empathy.

Affective empathy is how the emotions you can detect in others affect you emotionally. For example, if you don't realize someone's sad, that's a failure of cognitive empathy. If you know they're sad and you don't give a s**t, that's a failure of affective empathy.

Tyri0n
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20 Feb 2013, 8:31 pm

Ettina wrote:

Quote:

Not being able to recognize other's emotions or connect other's emotions to their source does not make one a psychopath.

I was under the impression that oxytocin makes you feel more connected to people more generally from an emotional standpoint and better able to perceive their emotions. Studies have shown it improving the social and empathetic behavior of autistic children. So does that mean it improves cognitive empathy, or that all the children tested were psychopaths?

timatron
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21 Feb 2013, 5:12 am

So has any aspies yet tried oxytocin?

I think oxytocin is released on physical contact, esp a long massage. When I finish at the massage therapist, I'm not necessarily more emotive or anything but there is a kind of an emotional attachment to the therapist, in a kind of way that i wish she was a super hot babe but she is not. but oh well.

The one thing that helped me become more emotive and feeling was lowering dopamine when i was on zyprexa a couple years ago, that was awesome. I felt moe alive and happy. too bad it had too many side effects.

Kelspook
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21 Feb 2013, 5:23 am

y other half has had some success with vitamin B6. Seems to help her mood be more happy

Tyri0n
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21 Feb 2013, 9:51 am

Interesting. Social anxiety? http://www.raysahelian.com/oxytocin.html

Quote:

How it works
Oxytocin suppresses the activity of the brain region known as the amygdala, the area that processes fear and communicates it to the rest of the brain. A small sample group of 15 men inhaled either oxytocin or a placebo before performing a task in which they sorted pictures of angry or fearful faces and threatening scenes. During the test, the researchers monitored the subjects' brain activity with functional magnetic resonance imaging and found that the oxytocin group indeed had reduced activity in the amygdala.

Oxytocin reduces fear
Animal and human studies indicate the major role of the amygdala in controlling fear and anxiety. The amygdala is involved in detecting threat stimuli and linking them to defensive behaviors. This is accomplished by projections connecting the central nucleus of the amygdala to the brain stem and to hypothalamic structures, which organize fear responses. Oxytocin tempers the excitatory inputs into the amygdala.

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