Trust hormone hope for the autistic
Could oxytocin, the trust hormone, be used as a potential treatment of autism? Researchers in Australia think so and are currently trialling the hormone in the hope that it might cure one of the core and debilitating symptoms of autistic spectrum disorders – the difficulty in recognising and responding to emotion in others. Oxytocin has been found to play a key role in promoting feelings of trust and social bonding. Whilst it is still not yet clear what causes autism, it is quite understandable that those seeking to find the first effective treatment of it are putting the trust hormone under the microscope. The research is being funded by the Australian federal Government’s National Health and Medical Research Council.
