In This Issue

Oxytocin’s influence on social behavior extends to the pathophysiology and treatment of psychiatric disorders. Apter-Levy et al. (CME, p. 1161) discovered that low salivary oxytocin levels in chronically depressed mothers and their families were associated with the GG genotype for an oxytocin receptor gene (OXTR) variant in the mother. The GG genotype was overrepresented in depressed mothers and their children, but the children’s high psychopathology levels were buffered by the presence of at least one A allele. Bertsch et al. (p. 1169) tested intranasal oxytocin as a treatment for social threat hypersensitivity. While viewing pictures of angry faces, untreated women with borderline personality disorder had more changes in visual fixation and greater amygdala activation than healthy women, but patients given oxytocin had normal responses. Impaired social cognition is common to many psychiatric disorders, notes Hollander in an editorial (p. 1086), and specific domains, such as social reward and eye gaze, may make useful research targets for oxytocin.