Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences, Medical University of South Carolina, Charleston, SC, USA; Ralph H. Johnson Veterans Affairs Medical Center, Charleston, SC, USA.
Department of Public Health Sciences, Medical University of South Carolina, Charleston, SC, USA.
J Psychiatr Res. 2022 Aug;152:14-24. doi: 10.1016/j.jpsychires.2022.06.011. Epub 2022 Jun 9.
While alcohol use disorder (AUD) is a well-established risk factor for intimate partner aggression (IPA), effective treatments for co-occurring AUD and IPA (AUD/IPA) are lacking. Oxytocin is one promising pharmacological candidate for AUD/IPA given its potential to modulate social behavior and attenuate alcohol use. However, emerging data suggests that oxytocin's prosocial effects are inconsistent, and a small number of studies have also found that oxytocin might have the potential to be aggressogenic. No studies have directly examined the impact of oxytocin on alcohol- or IPA-related outcomes in a dyadic context.
The goal of this double-blind, randomized, and placebo-controlled trial was to examine the effects of a single dose of intranasal oxytocin (40 international units) on cue-induced alcohol craving, subjective aggression, laboratory task-based IPA, and cortisol reactivity in a sample of 100 couples (N = 200 individuals) with AUD and physical IPA in their current relationship.
There were no statistically significant differences between the oxytocin and placebo conditions for any of the primary outcomes.
Findings suggest that a single dose of intranasal oxytocin was not efficacious in mitigating alcohol craving or aggression in this sample. Although hypotheses were not supported, the findings provide important evidence that oxytocin was not aggressogenic in this high-risk sample. Future research investigating dispositional and contextual moderators of oxytocin response in addition to the therapeutic effects of more intensive oxytocin dosing or administration strategies on alcohol craving and aggression is warranted.
尽管酒精使用障碍（AUD）是亲密伴侣攻击（IPA）的一个既定风险因素，但同时存在 AUD 和 IPA（AUD/IPA）的有效治疗方法却很缺乏。由于催产素具有调节社交行为和减少酒精使用的潜力，因此它是一种很有前途的治疗 AUD/IPA 的药理学候选药物。然而，新出现的数据表明，催产素的亲社会效应并不一致，少数研究还发现，催产素可能具有侵略性。没有研究直接在对偶情境中检查催产素对酒精或 IPA 相关结果的影响。
本双盲、随机、安慰剂对照试验的目的是在一个同时存在 AUD 和身体 IPA 的 100 对伴侣（N=200 人）样本中，检查单次鼻腔内给予催产素（40 国际单位）对线索诱导的酒精渴望、主观攻击、基于实验室任务的 IPA 以及皮质醇反应的影响。
在主要结局方面，催产素组和安慰剂组之间没有统计学上的显著差异。
研究结果表明，在这个样本中，单次鼻腔内给予催产素并不能有效减轻酒精渴望或攻击。尽管假设没有得到支持，但这些发现提供了重要证据，表明在这个高风险样本中，催产素没有攻击性。未来的研究需要进一步调查催产素反应的特质和情境调节因素，以及更密集的催产素剂量或给药策略对酒精渴望和攻击的治疗效果。
