14 DAY TRIAL // The chemical oxytocin, known affectionately as the love hormone, may be used as a basis for a new type of treatment meant to cure depression. The neurotransmitter is usually released in the body when people hug or touch each other, and its main role is to contribute to social bonding.
One of the most interesting aspects of how oxytocin acts is that it appears to change the way in which the brain interprets facial expressions in a process called social recognition. Through this mechanism, the hormone essentially promotes pro-social behavior, PsychCentral reports.
“It’s said that the eyes are the window to the soul […] they certainly are the window to the emotional brain. We know that the eye-to-eye communication, which is affected by oxytocin, is critical to intimate emotional communication for all kind of emotions — love, fear, trust, anxiety,” Dr. Kai MacDonald (UCSD) says.
The reason why experts are so hopeful that oxytocin may be helpful is that it acts on the brain without a person being alerted. Test subjects given doses of the hormone reported feeling no different, but acted different nonetheless.