Valentines Special – The Monogamy Drug

It’s that time of year again, February 14, loved by many and equally as hated by some. Valentine’s day, originally intended to celebrate a saint has “evolved” ( ) into something more in our contemporary world.

The day was first associated with romantic love in the circle of Geoffrey Chaucer in the High Middle Ages, when the tradition of courtly love flourished. By the 15th century, it had evolved into an occasion in which lovers expressed their love for each other by presenting flowers, offering confectionery, and sending greeting cards (known as "valentines").[1][3]

Wiki definition.
In light of this most auspicious of occasions, I decided to delve into a topic that has been discussed many times throughout ATS history with varying contexts; Love drugs, more specifically Oxytocin.

What is Oxytocin?
Oxytocin is a powerful hormone. When we hug or kiss a loved one, oxytocin levels drive up. It also acts as a neurotransmitter in the brain. In fact, the hormone plays a huge role in pair bonding. Prairie voles, one of nature's most monogamous species, produce oxytocin in spades. This hormone is also greatly stimulated during sex, birth, breast feeding, and the list goes on.

Link

Here is some of the effects of the drug:

Social behavior and wound healing: Oxytocin is also thought to modulate inflammation by decreasing certain cytokines. Thus, the increased release in oxytocin following positive social interactions has the potential to improve wound healing. A study by Marazziti and colleagues used heterosexual couples to address this possibility. They found increases in plasma oxytocin following a social interaction were correlated with faster wound healing. They hypothesized this was due to oxytocin reducing inflammation, thus allowing the wound to heal faster. This study provides preliminary evidence that positive social interactions may directly impact aspects of health.[17]

Increasing trust and reducing fear: In a risky investment game, experimental subjects given nasally administered oxytocin displayed "the highest level of trust" twice as often as the control group. Subjects who were told they were interacting with a computer showed no such reaction, leading to the conclusion that oxytocin was not merely affecting risk-aversion.[35] Nasally administered oxytocin has also been reported to reduce fear, possibly by inhibiting the amygdala (which is thought to be responsible for fear responses).[36] Indeed, studies in rodents have shown oxytocin can efficiently inhibit fear responses by activating an inhibitory circuit within the amygdala. Some researchers have argued oxytocin has a general enhancing effect on all social emotions, since intranasal administration of oxytocin also increases envy and Schadenfreude.[37]

These are but a few of the effects of this drug.

Now, the context in which this drugs application has been used over time is numerous, from a solution to cure autism to a mood enhancer in which speculations abound on the population control applications.

No, with valentine’s in mind I decided to focus on a different application, the proliferation and perpetuation of monogamous couples.

If cupid had studied neuroscience, he’d know to aim his arrows at the brain rather than the heart. Recent research suggests that for love to last, it’s best he dip those arrows in oxytocin. Although scientists have long known that this hormone is essential for monogamous rodents to stay true to their mates, and that it makes humans more trusting toward one another, they are now finding that it is also crucial to how we form and maintain romantic relationships.

LINK

Through various mediums, most commonly a nasal spray, YOU CAN PROLONG YOUR RELATIONSHIPS for the low, low price of $99 999 999.99.

Therapist and researcher Beate Ditzen at the University of Zurich, conduct initial trials in couples therapy to observe the effects of Oxytocin on relationships during times of tension.

Research shows that men tend to withdraw during conflict with their mate, which leads to a breakdown in communication and relationship dissatisfaction on both sides. Ditzen thinks the higher emotional arousal that oxytocin-infused men experience in her experiment may result in more engagement with their partner and thus more communication.

Sounds like a relationship saver right? Well I am not to convinced. The effectiveness of the drug aside, the issue of morality of such a substance in profound.

But the warm fuzzy side of oxytocin isn't the whole story. "Quite a number of studies have shown it's actually not that simple," says Andrew Kemp of the University of Sydney, who cowrote the paper with his colleague Adam Guastella. Recent studies have found that people who were given oxytocin, then played a game of chance with a fake opponent, had more envy and gloating. These are also both social emotions, but they're negative. "It kind of rocked the research world a little bit," Kemp says. That led some researchers to think that oxytocin promotes social emotions in general, both negative and positive.

If Kemp and Guastella are right, that could mean that oxytocin could also increase anger and other negative approach-related emotions. That could have important implications for people who are studying how to use oxytocin as a psychiatric treatment. "If you were to take a convicted criminal with a tendency towards aggression and give him oxytocin to make him more social, and if that were to enhance anger as opposed to suppressing anger, then that has very substantial implications," Kemp says.

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So, on one hand we have a drug that could potentially take a dent of divorce rates, which seem to climb every year and on the other, we have a drug that could make a population more reckless and extroverted, and depending on a person natural disposition, violence could be the result.

Now for the ATS flavor. You may be asking yourself, how did this discussion on love and valentine’s day degenerate into a discussion essentially about MIND CONTROL.

I am only half joking, as any substance we take into our bodies has some kind of effect on its operation and what Oxytocin does is basically effect who you are and how you act.

How long before this chemical is refined into a substance which works quite well on the above mentioned effects? Soon we could see every couple facing marital troubles being supplied this drug to keep them together. What social/cultural implications could this have?

Morally speaking, we are changing the variables involved within a relationship and potentially keeping couples together that were never meant to be. I can only speculate that a possible result further down the line would be mental breakdowns or violence. I can refer to the analogy of suppressing all your troubles until you erupt.

Now for the crazy, but possible, scenario in which the government utilizes this drug for population control

Or not.

But always something to think about. Happy Valentine’s Day.

reply to post by MDDoxs
Interesting drug! I'm of the opinion that if a couple needs a drug in order to stay together it probably wasn't meant to be and the drug would just be postponing the inevitable. Relationships aren't always "wine and roses" and in this day of instant gratification a lot of people will just throw in the towel rather than work through the tough times. In those cases it probably wasn't true, deep love to begin with. People who are in love deep within their souls realize that working through the tough times together brings them closer and makes the relationship stronger.

Happy Valentine's Day!

Num nums.... Oxytocin capsules??? Yes Please? I'm only half joking.... I see where your coming from... Unfortunately i'm that sap that sent my Fiancee' ProFlowers~ and she doesn't even know that... Dun dun dun~

Nothing says "Hey I love you baby! Like a safe with a .40 Ruger inside" Ohhhhhh Happy Valentines day indeed~ This year I give my Fiance Home protecttion/Flowers w/ Chocolate and a Teddy Bear~!!!

::Wipes forehead of sweat:: I'm glad I'm not in the doghouse this year...... Or am I...!

Originally posted by littled16
reply to post by MDDoxs

 

Interesting drug! I'm of the opinion that if a couple needs a drug in order to stay together it probably wasn't meant to be and the drug would just be postponing the inevitable. Relationships aren't always "wine and roses" and in this day of instant gratification a lot of people will just throw in the towel rather than work through the tough times. In those cases it probably wasn't true, deep love to begin with. People who are in love deep within their souls realize that working through the tough times together brings them closer and makes the relationship stronger.

Happy Valentine's Day!

Thanks for the input. I think you pin pointed one of the contentious issues. Is it moral to keep a couple together, when the obviously are not compatible and by doing so are you risking some kind of future outburst?

I will agree with your opinion that relationships should take the natural course. However......Some couples are almost perfect and something relatively benign ruins it.

reply to post by MDDoxs


If it has negative effects, that seems like something they will have no problem pushing through!!!

If it was all good, it would never see the shelves.........Where would the divorce lawyers make any money?? Where would government make any money?? Yep, all good = NO GO......

So there really IS a love potion # 9....

reply to post by MDDoxs


Nicely done. S&F&

fyi - I was confused at first, thinking oxycontin.

Liquid Love And A Drug: Oxytocin Vs Oxycontin

Oxytocin is sometimes called a natural love whereas oxycontin is a drug similar to morphine associated with the death of DJ AM.

Oxytocin is a hormone that plays a role in bonding, orgasms, trust, and maternal instincts. One way to activate the hormone is through love-making.

reply to post by MDDoxs

Morally speaking, we are changing the variables involved within a relationship and potentially keeping couples together that were never meant to be. I can only speculate that a possible result further down the line would be mental breakdowns or violence. I can refer to the analogy of suppressing all your troubles until you erupt.

Worthy of note is that many couples that 'were never meant to be' got married without getting to know the person they were bonding with. While I am all in favor of a fully operational moral compass based on simple equations of right and wrong, forming a relationship that will last your entire life is something that requires just a bit more.

But now, let's hold all of this up and compare to the culture we have devolved into. Drugs (as the one you mentioned) are often the escape of choice these days and in this case... one that creates an artificial sense of success and harmony. So... my point would be that human relationships are already taken too lightly and commitments today are basically worthless to begin with. Factor in those pharmaceuticals and the who thing becomes a rat trap with no escape.

Valentines Day - for whatever its actual value - has much less to do with our screwed up society than we ourselves do without it.

Nice post

reply to post by redoubt

So... my point would be that human relationships are already taken too lightly and commitments today are basically worthless to begin with. Factor in those pharmaceuticals and the who thing becomes a rat trap with no escape.

First, thank you for your input. I quite agree with your analysis of our current culture and its relationship to bonding.

I would say that being in the "age of convenience", this type of chemical just makes your current life more tolerable, instead of going through the difficulty of ending a unhealthy relationship.