Nasal spray device could help those with schizophrenia

I’ve seen research on this in the past and Oxytocin (the “love” hormone) being used to increase social abilities - and the results seem to have been mixed. I hope this new delivery mechanism has better results than the others have had. I’ll post some of the older research after the story below:

A nasal spray device that delivers oxytocin to the brain could help those with autism or schizophrenia, say researchers. The team says its device delivers the hormone higher up the nose than other devices, making it more effective.

This spray isn’t for cold relief…it’s delivering oxytocin to the brain.

Norwegian firm Optinose says the hormone can improve the social function of sufferers of psychiatric disorders like autism and schizophrenia.

“To operate the device the patient inserts the device into the mouth and into one nostril. The patient takes a deep breath, closes the lips around the mouthpiece and exhales into the device. The airflow carries the particles deep into the nose beyond the nasal valve.”

You are able to get the drug higher into the nasal cavity, so you are able to reach a larger fraction of the nasal mucosa and also to get a higher fraction up to the upper part of the nose, which is essential to achieve nose to brain transport." It also allows small doses to be delivered, which OptiNose believes may be safer for patients. University of Oslo scientists tested OptiNose twice daily on a group of males.

“What we did in our experiment is that we presented people with pictures of faces. Some of these faces were angry, some of them were happy, and some of them had a neutral expression. And in our experiment we asked people to rate how angry or how happy these people were. In our experiment we found that people who were administered a low dose of intranasal oxytocin rated the neutral faces as less angry compared to when they were given the placebo spray.”

Those receiving oxytocin also proved less likely to avoid the gaze of people they were talking to - a potential sign of social dysfunction. Users with larger nasal cavities responded best. Further tests are planned before the device is approved to administer oxytocin.

More Company information:

Related Reading:

“Oxytocin has historically been known to play a crucial role in child rearing as it facilitates pregnancy, birth, and the release of milk during nursing. Further, oxytocin helps regulate cardiac functions and fluid levels. More recent research has revealed the importance of oxytocin for social behaviour.”

https://www.med.uio.no/klinmed/english/research/news-and-events/news/2015/nasal-spray-mental-illness.html

Related Research:

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Has someone tried??

This sentence about how the study found large nostriled people make the best subjects made me giggle.

Also, isn’t oxytocin highly addictive? Or is that just the pill I am thinking of?

No - you’re thinking of the simliar sounding Oxycodone

different from Oxytocin:

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Frankly speaking, I won’t try anything new beneficial to treatment of schizophrenia unless it has become common and is prescribed or endorsed by my doctor.

Oxytocin seems to be safe.

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New study here for people to participate if interested:

Researchers at the San Francisco VA (4150 Clement Street) are looking for volunteers for a research study.

Our study is interested in researching the effects of oxytocin on improving the social cognitive abilities of patients with schizophrenia. We are specifically looking for volunteers who have been officially diagnosed with schizophrenia, schizophreniform, or schizoaffective disorder.

The research study involves:

  1. A series of computer tasks after receiving an intranasal spray.
  2. One assessment session of your psychiatric history to confirm your diagnosis of schizophrenia, schizophreniform, or schizoaffective disorder (this will be on a separate day from your testing sessions on the computer).
  3. Two 4-hour testing sessions.
  4. An intranasal spray of oxytocin, a natural hormone that is very safe, or placebo.

Compensation is $45 for the first day of the study and $45 for the second day of the study with a $10 bonus if you complete both parts. On the formal assessment day you will be paid $10-$40 depending on the assessments or procedures needed. Overall, you can make at least $120 and up to $150 for the entire study.

Full study info here:

http://sfbay.craigslist.org/sfc/vol/5579979924.html

I wouldn’t mind trying the nasal spray to increase my love, if that’s what it’s meant to do. The world does need more love.