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Scientists find childbirth wonder drug that can 'cure' shyness
Last updated at 20:30pm on 22.06.08
It can turn anything from job interviews to the most routine of family gatherings into a sweat-inducing ordeal.
But a 'love drug' produced naturally by the body during sex and childbirth could offer hope to the millions of people blighted by shyness, scientists have said.
Investigators believe oxytocin - a natural hormone that assists childbirth and helps mothers bond with newborn babies - could become a wonder drug for overcoming shyness.
Scientists found the drug could help shyness
Trials have found that oxytocin can reduce anxiety and ease phobias. Researchers say the hormone offers a possible, safe, alternative to alcohol as a means of overcoming the problem.
Sixty per cent of Britons say they have suffered from shyness and one in 10 say it impedes their daily life.
Researchers in the US, Europe and Australia are now racing to develop commercial forms of the hormone, including a nasal spray.
They believe it could also be turned into a 'wonder drug' to treat a range of personality disorders such as autism, depression and anxiety.
Paul Zak, a professor of neuroscience at California’s Claremont Graduate University said: 'Tests have shown that oxytocin reduces anxiety levels in users. It is a hormone that facilitates social contact between people.
What’s more, it is a very safe product that does not have any side effects and is not addictive.'
Professor Zak has tested the hormone on hundreds of patients. Its main effect is to curb the instincts of wariness and suspicion that cause anxiety.
The hormone is said to help mothers bond with their babies
Produced naturally in the brain during social interactions, it promotes romantic feelings, helps mothers bond with babies and makes people more sociable.
Oxytocin is released during orgasm and is also the key birthing hormone that enables the cervix to open and the contractions to work. Where labour has to be induced, it is often given to the mother intravenously to kick-start contractions.
Professor Zak said: 'We've seen that it makes you care about the other person. It also increases your generosity towards that person. That's why (the hormone) facilitates social interaction.'
In other recent trials, researchers at Zurich University in Switzerland have managed to ease symptoms of extreme shyness in 120 patients by giving them the hormone treatment half an hour before they encountered an awkward situation.
Oxytocin spray has also been successfully trialled at the University of New South Wales.
Autistic patients given oxytocin as part of a study in New York found their ability to recognise emotions such as happiness or anger in a person's tone of voice - something which usually proved difficult - also improved.
Experiments by Dr Eric Hollander at the city's Mount Sinai School of Medicine found a single intravenous infusion of the chemical triggered improvements that lasted for two weeks.
Previous research has revealed autistic children have lower than usual levels of oxytocin in their blood.
Professor Zak said: 'Oxytocin does not cure autism, but it does reduce the symptoms.'
Studies on rats at Emory University in Atlanta also suggested the hormone made the rodents more faithful to their partners.
The potential uses of oxytocin offer commercial possibilities well beyond individual patients too. Restaurants, for instance, could spray a thin mist over customers to put them at ease.
It could be used as a benign form of tear gas, quelling any violent feelings among groups of demonstrators, or, building on the Atlanta research, even to prevent extramarital affairs.
Previous research into the hormone by Professor Zak suggested that generous people had higher than average levels of oxytocin in the brain, while mean-spirited people have lower than normal levels.
Researchers gave doses of oxytocin and a placebo to participants, who were then asked to decide how to split a sum of cash with a stranger. Those given oxytocin offered 80 per cent more money than those given a placebo.
However, despite the many potential benefits of the research projects, some scientists have sounded warnings over the negative potential uses the hormone offers.
They say oxytocin could have potential as a date-rape drug as it is involved in both trust and sexual arousal.
Reader views (16)
I have suffered from anxiety for six years and it is such a dibilitating mental illness and restricts me from enjoying the fundemental things in life.This drug would be a god send to me and many others who are shy or anxious. I feel that distributed correctly this could make the world alot better place to live within.
- Kelly, Douglas, Isle of Man
"Researchers gave doses of oxytocin and a placebo to participants, who were then asked to decide how to split a sum of cash with a stranger. Those given oxytocin offered 80 per cent more money than those given a placebo."
Yes the government would love this drug. Rape without the date.
The dateless rape drug.
- Zoom, Macon Georgia
This hormone seems bad for husbands and good for wives. It will make wives more susceptible for adultery, because they'll "bond" more easily. On the other hand, it'll make husbands less susceptible for adultery, because when a man "bonds" with woman he sees her less as a sex object.
Bad news. Male scientists should find ruses to hinder the development of this disaster.
- Monty, NY, USA
Hold it, and give this some thought! How many people have shyness caused by suspicion and wariness?? Shyness is a feeling that you may make a fool of yourself, and that others believe you are a misfit. So you take the drug, and then you are not suspicious (you become gullible) and you are no longer wary (that makes you vulnerable, which, like gullible, is not the opposite of shy). What then? You feel free to prove to everyone how foolish you are, you have no hesitation to crash parties, and you are quick to link up with people who want to exploit you? That's not socially confident, that's downright infantile. -- So science marches on, eh? Stop the parade and let me out...I won't march to that drumbeat. Any restaurant I catch spraying this drug on me is going to have a lot of furniture to replace, if I find out about it before the aerosol zaps me.
- Benson, Bangkok, Thailand
As a very shy person I would still be wary about flushing with orgasmic love at people I would normally avoid... This drug is a great thing - but also has a very dark side (social engineering, intelligence gathering, corporate team building, having your social life collapse without your nasal spray, involuntary cervical contraction on job interviews...)
- Kerry Godwin, Madrid, Spain
Shyness is also a survival mechanism and is inherently connected to the caution needed for many people to circumvent dangers in their environment and posed by other human beings. Nature creates and preserves shyness for a genetic reason. Man always thinks he knows better, when in fact he isn't even smart enough to know what he doesn't know.
Abuse of this by governments and sociopaths to quell suspiciousness is inevitable.
By the way, I knew oxytocin had this effect on people fifteen years before the mainstream scientific community did.
- Biff Baxter, Queensland, Australia
Spanish fly just went high tech.
- Mike Oxlong, colorado
Shyness is nice and shyness can stop you from doing all the things in life you'd like to.
- Moz, manchester, UK
yeah, it's called alcohol!
- Steve, Temple, Georgia, USA
That part about the hormone being used to quell the violent feelings among demonstrators sounds very Brave-New-Worldian (Aldous Huxley); although the fact that the use of this hormone has no side effects is promising.
- Tm Billett, Redding USA
Alcohol will probably be cheaper.
- Brad, Chicago
This sounds like a miracle drug. I have suffered from Social Anxiety my entire life. It has interfered with having a good social experience more times than I can remember. It would be wonderful to look forward to social experiences and not dread them! Please keep up the good work!
- Martha, Glenwood, Maryland, USA
People have been "curing" shyness for centuries with a wonder drug.........it's called "booze"!
- Spence, Smithfield, RI USA
This appears to be a mood-altering drug, and thus will prove to be addictive.
- Joe Ferguson, Austin, TX
They neglected to mention that it is oxytocin that that must be released to let your milk down to breastfeed. Nursing my children was, overall, the most enjoyable time of my life, so enjoyable I extended nursing past the one year mark. I loved the feeling as the oxytocin flooded my body and gave me an intense sense of wellbeing and love.
Women that have problems with milk letdown are given oxytocin spray.
- Peggy Sue Doyle, Sparks, Nevada
Interesting, but just like many things can be used for good or used for bad. By the way, there are always side effects.
- Roger, Loma Linda USA
