New work suggests that alcohol and oxytocin, often dubbed "the love hormone", are more similar than we thought. For example, exposure to both compounds removes inhibitions on certain behaviours, including aggression. Interestingly, these negative effects are restricted to those with high trait aggressiveness. This raises concern over prescribing oxytocin as a general remedy to help overcome social anxiety and other antisocial behaviours, because it may have undesirable consequences on the very people who need it the most. I write more in my article Why the ‘love hormone’ may be less rosy and more rosé than we thought, for The Conversation
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