Intranasal Oxytocin Selectively Modulates Social Perception, Craving, and Approach Behavior in Subjects With Alcohol Use Disorder.

Objectives: A pharmacotherapy that both improves social abilities and promotes abstinence may be particularly helpful for the treatment of alcohol use disorder. Recent clinical and preclinical evidence suggests that oxytocin has prosocial and antiaddiction effects. We performed a pilot, laboratory-based, preclinical trial of oxytocin in subjects with alcohol abuse (as per Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, 4 Edition criteria) to evaluate therapeutic potential and assess tolerability.

The effects of intranasal oxytocin in opioid-dependent individuals and healthy control subjects: a pilot study.

Rationale: There has been an explosion of research on the potential benefits of the social neuropeptide oxytocin for a number of mental disorders including substance use disorders. Recent evidence suggests that intranasal oxytocin has both direct anti-addiction effects and pro-social effects that may facilitate engagement in psychosocial treatment for substance use disorders.

Objectives: We aimed to assess the tolerability of intranasal oxytocin and its effects on heroin craving, implicit association with heroin and social perceptual ability in opioid-dependent patients receiving opioid replacement therapy (ORT) and healthy control participants.