Natural hormone oxytocin diminishes fear response, study shows

WASHINGTON POST
Love and trust really can conquer fear and anxiety.
Scientists have long been intrigued by the hormone oxytocin, which plays a role in complex social behavior. The hormone is part of a system in the brain that controls the formation of emotional bonds and plays a role during sex, childbirth and breast-feeding.
Now, scientists at the National Institutes for Health and Justus-Liebig University in Germany have discovered that oxytocin, which some have dubbed the hormone of love, can make volunteers less fearful.
In a paper published in the Journal of Neuroscience, researchers found that volunteers who had oxytocin sprayed into their noses had less fear response when shown frightening images than those given a placebo.
Volunteers' fear reactions were measured through a very sensitive brain-imaging technique that revealed less activity in the part of the brain known as the amygdala.