Oxytocin
Hormonal Approved · Worldwide Human trials
Also called Pitocin
A nine-amino-acid hormone made in the hypothalamus. In the body it drives uterine contractions in labor and milk let-down during nursing. In the brain it shapes bonding, trust and responses to fear and stress, which is the focus of most current research.
Why people take it
What studies report
- Established medical use for labor induction and postpartum bleeding
- Increased trust, eye contact and social attention in experimental studies
- Trials in autism, social anxiety and PTSD have given mixed and mostly disappointing results
How it works
A centrally acting neuropeptide underlying bonding and social behaviour, alongside its established role in labour and lactation.
In practice Off-label
- Used as a nasal spray situationally for intimacy and social connection
- Tried by some for social anxiety, where trial results have been disappointing
Reported real-world use, not evidence and not a recommendation.
Worth knowing: The social effects are context-dependent and smaller than early reports suggested. Large autism trials were negative.
Status: Approved medicine for inducing labor and controlling bleeding after birth. Other uses are experimental.
- Route
- Intranasal spray, or injection in clinical use
- Sequence
- Cys-Tyr-Ile-Gln-Asn-Cys-Pro-Leu-Gly-NH2 (disulfide 1–6)
- Formula
- C43H66N12O12S2
- Molecular weight
- 1007.2 g/mol
- CAS
- 50-56-6
- Available as
- 10 mg
Educational information only. Nothing here is medical advice, a dosing protocol, or a recommendation to use any compound. Most entries describe substances not approved for human use. Talk to a licensed clinician before acting on anything you read here. How to read these entries.