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Review
. 2015 Dec;17(4):463-76.
doi: 10.31887/DCNS.2015.17.4/pkirsch.

Oxytocin in the socioemotional brain: implications for psychiatric disorders

Peter Kirsch  1
Affiliations
Review

Oxytocin in the socioemotional brain: implications for psychiatric disorders

Peter Kirsch. Dialogues Clin Neurosci. 2015 Dec.

Abstract
in English, Spanish, French

The neuropeptide oxytocin (OXT), highly conserved during evolution, is an important modulator of social and emotional processes across many species. During the last decade, a large body of literature has revealed its effects on different aspects of social behavior, including social stress and anxiety, social memory, affiliation and bonding, emotion recognition, mentalizing, empathy, and interpersonal trust. In addition, as impairments in these social domains can be observed in a number of neuropsychiatric disorders, such as autism, social anxiety disorder, depression, schizophrenia, and borderline personality disorder, the role of OXT in mental disorders and their treatment has been intensively studied. The present paper gives a short overview of these lines of research and shows how OXT has become a promising target for novel treatment approaches for mental disorders characterized by social impairments.

El neuropéptido oxitocina (OXT), muy bien conservado durante la evolución, es un modulador importante de los procesos sociales y emocionales en muchas especies. Durante la última década, bastante literatura ha revelado sus efectos sobre diferentes aspectos de la conducta social, incluyendo el estrés social y la angustia, la memoria social, la filiación y el vínculo, el reconocimiento de las emociones, la mentalización, la empatía y la confianza interpersonal. Además, se ha estudiado extensamente el papel de la OXT en los trastornos mentales y su tratamiento ya que las alteraciones en estos aspectos sociales pueden observarse en varios trastornos neuropsiquiátricos como el autismo, el trastorno de ansiedad social, la depresión, la esquizofrenia y el trastorno de personalidad borderline. Este artículo entrega una pequeña panorámica de estas líneas de investigación y muestra cómo la OXT ha llegado a ser un objetivo promisorio para las nuevas aproximaciones terapéuticas para los trastornos mentales caracterizados por alteraciones sociales.

L'ocytocine (OXT), neuropeptide très bien conservé au cours de l'évolution, est un modulateur important des processus sociaux et émotionnels dans de nombreuses espèces. Ces 10 dernières années, de nombreux articles de la littérature ont montré ses effets sur différents aspects du comportement social dont le stress et l'anxiété sociaux, la mémoire sociale, l'affiliation et la création de lien, la reconnaissance des émotions, la mentalisation, l'empathie et la confiance interpersonnelle. De plus, le rôle de l'OXT dans les troubles mentaux et leur traitement a été très étudié car des déficits dans ces domaines sociaux sont observés dans de nombreux troubles psychiatriques comme l'autisme, l'anxiété sociale, la dépression, la schizophrénie et la personnalité «borderline». Dans cet article nous faisons une brève revue de ces axes de recherche et montrons comment l'OXT est devenue une cible prometteuse de nouveau traitement pour les troubles mentaux caractérisés par des troubles sociaux.

Keywords: interpersonal trust; oxytocin; oxytocin treatment; psychiatric disoder; social anxiety; social cognition; social stress.

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Figures

Figure 1.
Figure 1.. Summary of the role of oxytocin on different descriptional levels and its relation to neuropsychiatric disorders. ASD, autism spectrum disorder; BPD, borderline personality disorder; DA, dopamine; HPA, hypothalamo-pituitary-adrenal; OXT, oxytocin; SAD, social anxiety disorder
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