Little White Witch - Life Styles, tips and living

Ugly Duckling or Sexually Imprinted?

By Ronda Davison

A.K.A. Little White Witch

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Many People suffer from the loss of a love one, commonly known as “heartbreak” sometime in their lives.  Although some people can move on to another relationship without a problem, there are some people who develop a phenomena that is very similar to an addiction, creating hormone balance problems in the physical body. Scholars have suggested that creating, balancing and using oxytocin and glucocorticoid may be the reason for attachment and sufferings caused from separation.  Heartbreak can be more than an emotional crisis; it could possibly be a physical problem too.

Oxytocin and Glucocorticoid are essential neurotransmitters that effect the emotions of love and separation.  Susan Barker, a grant writer states, “You first meet him and he’s passable . . . the second time you go out with him, he’s OK.  The third time you go out with him, you have sex.  And from that point on you can’t imagine what life would be like without him” (Barker 3).  Steve Sussman, PhD, Institute of Health Promotion and Disease Prevention Research at the University of Southern California states in his article Love Addiction: Definition, Etiology, and Treatment that, “Romantic love connotes deep connection in a relationship, including intense feelings for another person, and physical and emotional intimacy (Acevedo & Aron, 2009).  Furthermore, romantic love has been conceptualized as a ‘dynamic structure of experience that must be continually reanimated’ to continue (Solomon, 1988)” (Sussman 31). If love is something that needs to be “reanimated” to continue and there are chemical components that are being activated in the brain, then it seems logical that there is truly a need for a “Love Doctor” to make sure things are balanced and operating correctly, the same way diet and exercise needs to be monitored.

Physical and chemical properties of the human anatomy are what physicians work with to heal human frailties and disease.  What is more dis ease than a broken heart?  Physicians thus need to become aware and prescribe the appropriate medications to their patients, especially those who are suffering from depression, maybe it is not a broken bone, rather is can seriously be a “broken heart.”  Emotional thoughts and feelings can no longer be separated from the reactions of the physical body. 

Whether heartbreak is due to a break in a relationship, a call to duty in the military, a religious obligation, a prison sentence, or the ultimate death of a mate these are all very painful experiences. It seems to be part of the human condition.   “Attachment, commitment, intimacy, passion, grief upon separation, and jealousy are but a few of the feeling or emotions sometimes used to describe love (Hatfield and Rapson, 1993; Sternberg and Barns, 1988)” (Carter 779).  All people have the neurotransmitters oxytocin and glucocorticoid. Scientist knows about these two neurotransmitters, but how they affect human behavior during attachment and separation is a new field of study.

Besides many effects of these two neurotransmitters, one of the interesting discoveries that oxytocin exhibits is the “Trust” factor when attachment is forming. Individuals may find themselves in a situation that they normally would not trust the environment, but due to a flow of oxytocin in their brain, they just may not be perceiving the situation accurately  “In addition to novel or stressful experiences [one may find their selves, due to the neurotransmitter, oxytocin,] encourage [to] increase [dangerous] social behaviors” (Carter 783).  There is a danger associated with increasing social behaviors when an individual is not ready, recently healing from a heartache or not prepared for another relationship, because oxytocin has a tendency to increase ones trust levels.

The craving for more oxytocin can help people make wrong choices.

In humans, a first functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) study indicated that oxytocin reduces amygdala responses to threatening non-social scenes and to angry and fearful faces (22), which might reflect a selective suppression to signals of threat.  (Dome 1187)  

Amygdala is the reward pathway of the brain highly associated with neurotransmitters such as dopamine, oxytocin and glucocorticoid.

To further explore the theory that the neurotransmitter oxytocin behaves like a “truth serum,” a study was done on human subjects in 2005.

Kosfeld et at (2005) conducted a study in which intranasal oxytocin or placebo was administered to male university student’s playing “the trust game,” in which participants make decisions about transferring money to an anonymous player; trusting the other player can lead to higher payoffs for both players because the money is tripled when transferred; but one runs the risk that the other player might violate one’s trust and not share his or her earnings.  Results revealed that oxytocin significantly increased trust among participants compared with placebo.  Moreover, the effects of oxytocin were not simply due to an increased willingness to engage in risky behavior; rather they were due to participants’ willingness to accept social risks, suggesting the oxytocin is involved in prosocial approach behavior (Kosfeld et al 2005). (Hollander 449)

This could be somewhat laughable however we are talking about oxytocin that is linked to sexual behavior, virtue, and the unfortunate possibility of predators and pedophiles. 

Pedophile is a strong word and catches the attention of many people.  In fact, prison inmates put the taboo on just the usage of the word.  Recognizing that individuals may actually be love sick or in other words a physical illness due to the imbalance of a neurotransmitter possibly created due to previous life experiences; puts a whole new light on the subject of heartbreaks and heartbreakers.  Sexually imprinting others knowingly could be considered a crime just as giving an alcoholic or a drug addict their fix.  Utah State Department of Vocational Rehabilitation has now categorized addiction as a disability (Utah State Department of Vocational Rehabilitation).  The discovery of oxytocin and glucocorticoid with its debilitating effects are too new, to even consider the possibility of claiming love sickness as a disability. 

In the animal kingdom, when a mate loses its attachment, the problem is solved by simply finding another partner or die.  In the human kingdom there are similar behaviors and heartache.  Research is gaining knowledge, and finding solutions. Depression can cause suicide. Suicide does not seem to be part of the animal kingdoms natural behavior, unless there is an induced addiction, such as laboratory animal’s exhibit when fed doses of cocaine.  As humans, there are solutions besides saddling up to the next relationship like a common animal mate after mate. There is dietary, exercise, medications, aromatherapy, spiritual programs, 12 steps organizations and the list goes on as to the ways to eradicate addiction and illness.  The first step in overcoming any challenge or addiction is education and prevention.  Prevention is great and useful, only if there is education and knowledge available on how NOT to get caught up in the cycle.  More education needs to be made available about these neurotransmitters, especially to the youth as they enter their sexually active years.  There are more physical reasons why “puppy love” of the youth is so dizzy and dangerous.

Oxytocin is one of the good feeling neurotransmitter, the sweet chemical for creating euphoric and the “in love” feeling; the dip in oxytocin level however and the lack thereof creates suffering.  “Oxytocin is the essence of affection itself, the brain chemical that warmly bonds parent to child, lover to lover, friend to friend, and it could soon be unleashing its loved-up powers far and wide” (Szalavitz 1).  Neurotransmitters are the very tiny chemicals that are transferred in our nervous system, the Central Nervous System (CSN) this means and includes our brain.  Neurotransmitters are what make our bodies react; they are the body’s chemical compound that drives the message system to act, think and feel. 

Neurotransmitters are endogenous chemicals that transmit signals from a neuron to a target cell across a synapse. Neurotransmitters are packaged into synaptic vesicles clustered beneath the membrane on the presynaptic side of a synapse, and are released into the synaptic cleft, where they bind to receptors in the membrane on the postsynaptic side of the synapse. Release of neurotransmitters usually follows arrival of an action potential at the synapse, but may also follow graded electrical potentials. Low level "baseline" release also occurs without electrical stimulation. Neurotransmitters are synthesized from plentiful and simple precursors, such as amino acids, which are readily available from the diet and which require only a small number of biosynthetic steps to convert. (Wikipedia).

This is a detailed description of what a neurotransmitter is, but this does not explain what happens to an individual when the brains’ a reward pathway, amygdala, is flooded by neurotransmitters.

Flooding the brain with dopamine as a neurotransmitter is what many people are already familiar with.  Throughout history substances have been sought far and wide with the desire to manipulate the reward pathway of the brain. Getting “high” can be a daily incentive that fills the major portion of an addict’s day.   The scientific communities have known for centuries what dopamine is, what it does and how addicting it can be; but oxytocin is a fairly new discovery. 

Oxytocin was discovered in 1909, when British pharmacologist Henry Dale found that a substance extracted from the human brain could cause contractions in pregnant cats.  He named it using the Greek for “quick birth,” and for decades it was known only for its role as a pregnancy hormone promoting contractions and aiding breastfeeding.  In the 1970’s it started to become clear that oxytocin was more than just a hormone – it was also a neurotransmitter.  Released from the brain region called the hypothalamus during social interactions and sex, oxytocin is detected by receptors throughout the brain’s emotional centre, the limbic system.  This discovery prompted scientific interest that has mushroomed ever since, with oxytocin now of the hottest topics in neuroscience. (Szalavitz 1)

 With this knowledge and discovery, it wasn’t until 1998 when Sue Carter, from the University of Maryland, performed an experiment on prairie voles that gave the scientific world something to seriously consider when dealing with heart ache. 

A prairie vole is not the same thing as a prairie dog. “Prairie voles are active year-round. In colder weather, they tend to be more active during the day; at other times, they are mainly nocturnal. Prairie voles live in colonies and have been known to exhibit human-like social behavior in groups” (Wikipedia).  Prairie voles are smaller than prairie dogs and they tend to form monogamous relationships.   

Carter discovered that the key to the different behaviors was oxytocin.  Female prairie voles have many oxytocin receptors in their brains’ pleasure centres, while the males have lots of receptors for both oxytocin and a closely related hormone, vasopressin …. Carter concluded that oxytocin released in the brain during mating, bonds prairie voles to one other, making further contact with that particular partner pleasurable and separation stressful (Psychoneuroendocrinology, vol 23, p 779). (Szalavitz 2)

Both female and male species have oxytocin, but only males have vasopressin.  What was this vasopressin that only the males had?  Upon further experiment it was discovered that when separating the animals from their partner, that both mates would cry and whine.  While this commotion of crying and whining is going on the oxytocin levels are dropping, while glucocorticoid levels elevate.  If the males have receptors for both oxytocin and a similar hormone vasopressin, the need for oxytocin would be a higher concentration of a craving for the males.  Although women have the maternal desire to bear young.

Vasopressin just may be the reason that men need to be on the move for hunting, providing and assurance of not being without a mate.  “Vasopressin, which plays a role in pair bonding and defensive aggression, also can continue to function during mobilized behavioral states, possibly providing an explanation for male-female difference in social attachment” (Carter 810).  Men have different ways of displaying their attachment, they are more protective, and want to provide, they have a tendency to exhibit an “ownership” or “pink slip” mentality toward  relationship’s. 

            Women who do not have vasopressin but only oxytocin which creates different reactions  in their bodies, just like estrogen and progesterone have different results in males and females alike, so does Oxytocin and Glucocorticoid.

Women whose oxytocin levels rose in response to massage and remembering a positive relationship reported having little difficulty setting appropriate boundaries, being alone, and trying too hard to please others.  Women whose oxytocin levels fell in response to remembering a negative emotional relationship reported greater problems with experiencing anxiety in close relationships.  “It seems that having this hormone ‘available’ during positive experiences, and not being depleted of it during negative experiences, is associated with well-being in relationships,” said Turner. (Turner 3)

Because of these differences in oxytocin, glucocorticoid and vasopressin we can understand the male female roles exhibited in relationships.  As children grow and develop their gender roles, they also have these hormones growing, fluctuating and developing behaviors and patterns from these hormones.  It is important that children have healthy, pure sexual lives as they grow and develop.

Anita Katz, a PhD Analyst at New York University observed two women who suffered severe trauma when they were toddlers.  Two women who at a very young age had their oxytocin levels manipulated in harmful ways, they are true survivors, but years later, they needed much therapy in their relationships and language skills.

Both of these women experienced words primarily as treasured productions for which they longed to be noticed and admired; when it came to expression, actions spoke louder than words.  In their analysis, at least, this had a useful side.  Both of them had a highly developed capacity for physical drama, and could capture my attention in engaging ways –for better or worse. (Katz 442)

This is just two examples of female children who have been abuse, the results for male children is just as devastating.  The importance of allowing children to grow and develop with balanced oxytocin, vasopressin and glucocorticoid is important for the development of healthy adult relationships. “We must order the soul not to scorn and abandon the body. . . but to embrace it, cherish it, assist it, control it, and advise it, set it right, and bring it back when it goes astray: in short to marry it (Montaigne, 1580, p. 484)” (Katz 430).   The need to fully understand the human body is essential to understanding social attachments, relationships and raising children. 

Most people love the romantic term “Soul Mate.”  What could be more appropriate that marrying your soul mate and raising your soul mates children?  This is the perfect love story!  However, the term “Soul Mate” could possibly be just another term for “I am obsessively sexually imprinted to this individual and I need professional help.” Due to the fact that Neurotransmitters, hormones and steroids can actually change the DNA of a physical body, the implication of what is considered the soul is debatable.  Regardless of the changes that happen at the soul level, what of the physical body and the implications of these changes?  What kind of professional help is actually available to the love sick individuals? There are many ways to control neurotransmitters.  It is difficult to overcome the craving for dopamine found in chocolate, drugs or alcohol; it is just as difficult to overcome being sexually imprinted.  The real downer and the cause for pain of these three neurotransmitters is glucocorticoid.

Glucocorticoid is actually a sugar steroid. This means that there are glucocorticoid receptors for that steroid.  “The glucocorticoid receptor (GR, or GCR) also known as NR3C1 (nuclear receptor subfamily 3, group C, member 1) is the receptor to which cortisol and other glucocorticoids bind” (Wikipedia).  Most people are familiar with the steroid cortisol.  Cortisol has gotten the bad rap as the stress hormone, the hormone that makes people fat when they are stressed out. The other interesting fact about steroids is they are in the lipid category.  A possible treatment use could be essential oils due the ability to get through the phospholipid membrane of the cell, affecting the DNA.  Research revealed some home remedies for the heart broken; herbs, essential oils and spiritual and 12 step programs. 

Some programs could actually be harmful however.  When an individual is suffering, one of the things that are not helpful is the self-righteous who have yet to experience the debilitating effects of the imbalance of oxytocin and glucocorticoid.  In an article by Eric Perkins, written in the International Journal of Reality therapy he wrote an article that showed he could recognize the pain associated with heartbreak, but was unaware of the realities of the chemical changes.  Being a director of the Capital Baptist Association in Oklahoma City he makes many claims in his article, “Letting the Fat Lady Sing.”  Claims for repentance, learn from your mistake, change your memories, stop remembering, learn to forget the good time, only remember the bad times, stop thinking about the individual, don’t frequent people places and things (Perkins).  These are all very good suggestions, however, there are some cases where the broken heart needs more than a lecture, and the body needs medical attention.

A love sick person does not need their mistakes pointed out why they are sick!  They know why, and have a very difficult time discussing it with anyone, much less their physician.

“The only reason you are suffering is because you dared to love.  You dared to give all you are to someone else, only to experience all that you are being rejected.  With that rejection come the pain of loss of self-worth, self-respect, and self-confidence” (Perkins 36).  Hopefully, as more professionals become educated to the fact that love is a neurotransmitter chemical that can lead to serious depression, sermons that promote more guilt will cease.  All addictions carry a sense of guilt.

Similar to drug addiction, there are 12 step meetings for love addiction.  Sussman points out that as people try to overcome drug addictions including love addictions that they turn to a Higher Power.  In his article Drug Addiction, Love and the Higher Power he warns of the needs to keep a balance. 

Addictive-like reliance on a Higher Power may provide a means to maintain relatively optimal dopamine turnover in the brain’s reward system after terminating a drug of abuse.  This is critical, given evidence that there is dopaminergic hypoactivity both early and late in the abstinence process, which persists is untreated (Markou, Kosten, & Koob, 1998). (Sussman 365)

 According to Sussman, “For a behavior to become harmfully addictive, it would involve some type of ‘rush’ effect, time-intensity repetition, intense behavioral or cognitive preoccupation, loss of control, and negative consequences (Sussman, Lisha, & giffith, 2011)” (Sussman 367).  There are many things that can cause an individual to sink into addiction, including eating, exercise and now, apparently love. The quest for living a life “Happily Ever After” seems impossible!

David Pearce, Director of BLTC Research “believes and promotes the idea that there exists a strong ethical imperative for humans to work towards the abolition of suffering in all sentient life” (Wikipedia).  He has created a “Good Drug Guide: the responsible Parent’s Guide to Healthy Mood Boosters for All the Family”.  This resource has all the up-to-date medications available.  A person can study this resource then make an educated decision as to what they think would be the best way for a “live happily ever after,” then discuss with their primary physician a dosage amount or other recommendations.  But this would only be something that is studied by an individual who actively wants to “get over” a sexual imprinting. 

The effort it takes to overcome any addiction is an uphill climb.  But the search for happiness is worth the effort, if an individual believes they are a worthy candidate.  Pearce explains, “There’s clearly a strong causal link between the raw biological capacity to experience happiness and the extent to which one’s life is felt to be worthwhile.  High-minded philosophy treaties should complicate but not confuse the primacy of the pleasure-pain axis” (Pearce 1).  Just like any addiction, there needs to be knowledge and desire to overcome the dis ease; to make life worth living.  But all addictions bring with it the feelings of guilt and shame, then the foreboding mood of depression.  In Pearce’s article he list Oxytocin as one of the mood brighteners, however please make note of the last sentence.

Oxytocin is a natural anti-anxiety agent: the “cuddle hormone.”  Several drug companies, notably Wyeth, are investigating its patentable synthetic analogues.  Enhanced oxytocin release contributes to the acute pro-social action of MDMA (Ecstasy).  Oxytocin builds trust by reducing activity in the fear processing circuitry of the amygdala.  Taken off-label, oxytocin can be inhaled as an intranasal spray to combat social phobia.  It reduces shyness and normal social anxiety.  More controversially, oxytocin can be applied as an odorless body-spray to manipulate the responses of other people: “Trust in a bottle.”  Nature’s social peptide is also critical to pair-bonding.  In future, mastery of the oxytocin system may allow us to control our degree of fidelity and attachment to each other far more effectively than marriage vows.  The sociological implications the widespread use and abuse of “social Viagra” would be far-reaching.  It should be stressed that research into the safe and sustainable enrichment of human oxytocin function has barely begun. (Pearce 10)

The thought of wearing oxytocin is intriguing!  While this resource was very important it is about educating individuals to the resources available for individuals and parents, it does not provided the ultimate cure or solution to heartbreak.

One possible solution to overcoming heartbreak is found in the medicine of New Age.  Mr. Sonal Sekhar, from the Amrita School of Pharmacy in India states, “Aromatherapy is the use of oils from herbs and other aromatic plants to achieve relaxation or relief from a disorder”  (Sekhar 1).  The world has suffered heartbreak for many generations without modern science.  There are remedies that have been tried and tested and have stood the test of time.  Bach flowers is one of those remedies.

Of the several variations on herbalism, one of the best known is the system of Dr. Edward Bach, an English bacteriologist and homeopath who created and used flower essences as an alternative to convention drug remedies.  His preparations were made by immersing flowers in water and then exposing this combination to heat or to sunlight.  He believed that these essences, individually and in combination, would restore the mental and emotional balance essential for physical well-being.  The best known of the Bach concoctions is the Rescue Remedy, a combination of five different formulas, which is reserved for especially trying situations such as the death of a loved one.  Other Bach remedies include agrimonies to relieve anxiety, impatience to reduce emotional irritability …. (Sekhar 4)

Other recommended essential oils are Bergmot oil; relieves depression and has calming properties, and Basil Oil; strengthens and supports the nervous system. 

Ostad from the University of Tehran Medical Sciences stated “Administration of different doses of FEO [Fennel Essential Oil] reduced the intensity of oxytocin …” (Ostad Abstract).   Studies indicate that rubbing on the ears and bottoms of the feet are best locations for administration due to location of the largest pores for absorption into the body’s cells.  An added benefit is that essential oils tend to have a pleasant odor.  But essential oil alone will not be all that is needed in most heartbreak cases.

Healing the self is a multi-level task and should be approached with a team of specialist that might include a therapist.  Always start with a visit to the doctor, discuss the various medications that are available on the market and the possibility of a referral to a professional “Love Doctor.”  Know the options before seeing a doctor.  Again, “The Good Drug Guide: New Mood-Brighteners and Antidepressants” is an excellent resource produced by BLTC (Pearce).  If a doctor notices a climb in weight in a patient, discuss the possibility that the reason for the weight gain is due to cortisol, not necessarily that the patient is a loser in another area of their life.

  Jo Marchant a freelance writer wrote an article for the New Scientist publication. Merchant revealed six techniques to “raid your own built-in medicine cabinet.” One, Fool yourself; two, trust people; three, think positive; four, hypnotize yourself; five, meditate; and six, know your purpose (Marchant).  These are all good suggestions, and well worth making the effort.  “One of the co-authors of Saron’s study, Elissa Epel, a psychiatrist at the University of California, San Francisco, believes that meditation may also boost ‘pathways of restoration and health enhancement,’ perhaps by triggering a release of growth and sex hormones” (Marchant 5).  Having a purpose in life, having hope is so vital to survival; unfortunately this is something that is taken from prison inmates.  But even in a locked up facility these six techniques are available to anyone, as long as they still have a brain.  Freedom is important but not all together necessary for an individual to find meaning to their life, as Viktor Frankyl in his book, “Man Search For Meaning” illustrated.  When one is suffering, sometimes reading a book, where there is suffering of another kind can give an individual a new perspective on what is important in life.

If an individual is free and able to think clearly, having hope and knowing the purpose for living helps people overcome many illnesses and protects them from future assaults.  Meditation gives a person a sense of centeredness and a realization who they really are.

Yet others think that what really matters is having a sense of purpose in life, whatever it might be.  Having an idea of why you are here and what is important increases our sense of control over events, rendering them less stressful.  In Saron’s three month-meditation study . . . the increases in level of the enzyme that repairs telomeres [cells organelles] correlated with an increased sense of control and an increased sense of purpose in life.  In fact, Saron argues, this psychological shift may have been more important than the meditation itself. (Marchant 6)

Without a purpose in life, an individual will exhibit vulnerability.  When an individual is suffering they may believe that the whole world will stop and assist them.  Real life is quite the contrary!  In a song by Cat Stevens he suggest that we live in a Wild World; “Hope you make a lot of nice friends out there, but just remember there’s a lot of bad and beware.”  There are users in the world.  Whether or not, “bad” peopl are aware of a person’s debilitating circumstances, they will do all they can to better their situation or station in life regardless of the affects or damage that can be caused by their great unkindness.   Not necessarily criminal, according to our society, but unfortunately, human nature. When an individual is vulnerable due to the effects of oxytocin and glucocorticoid it is vital that they care enough about their life, so that they will be able to protect themselves from the demons of the world who will take advantage of the opportunity to “score” and seek out the phenomena fondly called “Damsel in Distress.”  The strong do prey upon the weak. 

            Some women use the tactic of being hopeless, so that a man in shining armor may come rescue them from their independence and possibly responsibilities or pain from the loss of a love one, or maybe they are mate jumping.   Similar to the Jurassic Park movie where a goat is set in the middle of a field, bleating, until the dinosaur monster arrives. When a vulnerable individual who is stressed out at a specific point in their life, their level of glucocorticoid is elevated, they are craving and wanting attachment, love; they want oxytocin.   Place this person into new world, a stressful situation, in a new environment, new people; beware of the possibility of a monster that may come along, forming a social attachment that will drain what little life’s blood is left of the victim.  These people are vulnerable. 

Just like our story of the Ugly duckling newly hatched but finding its fledging life in an environment that is not the same biological makeup it was genetically engineered to grow.  The Ugly duckling will either adapt or die.  The Ugly duckling will not necessarily becoming a duck. They will forever be out of place, until medication, rituals, diet and exercise comes into their life, where their true genetic chemistry is balanced enough to become the beautiful swan they were hatched to be.  Children are so vulnerable to their environment, those they depend on to care for them.  Further research must be done whether oxytocin and glucocorticoid are the reasons children who do not feel like they fit in to the social setting at school.  The imbalance of oxytocin and glucocorticoid could be the reason some children will fall victim into the “wrong crowd.”  More research needs to be done so that more children are successful in social settings, especially when children are in the adolescent sexually developing years.  That first kiss could be the most important activity that sets the neurotransmitter into activity, just like the first injection of heroin.  Then the ever slippery slid into a sexual promiscuous life with attachment disorders that last a life time.

Free sex is not free, there are consequences not only on the possibility of a pregnancy or a sexually transmitted disease, there is now scientific evidence of the possible dysfunction of behaviors due to social attachments that are not logical; such as attachment to the abuser, and domestic violent relationships.  This explains the dynamic of the “Drama Triangle,” victim, perpetrator and rescuer.  

Example: A man comes to rescue a Damsel in distress, (high glucocorticoid levels) he carries her off to a new environment, has his due reward and partakes of her body, (levels of oxytocin are increased, for both, blocking glucocorticoid) she then becomes imprinted.  Once the Knight in Shining armor has his satisfaction, his interest wanders, (vasopressin?) or he must go off to the next rescue adventure, no commitment here; he does not have the same emotional attachment, he is satisfied and now a bored rescuer. The Damsel now turns to perpetrator (bitch) because her oxytocin levels have now stopped producing. “…Oxytocin inhibited the secretion of glucocorticoids…” (Carter 785).   Glucocorticoids are running rampant with lower levels of oxytocin to block the stress neurotransmitter; due to the separation of the Knights and/or his new interest. 

When the Knight has his fill of the nagging and becomes aggressive (a possible result of vasopressin) and needs to handle or control his prize, his possession; the woman then becomes victim again.  This may be due to a sexual conquest or an outright beating.

Glucocorticoid is a stress hormone, something we do not want, but need for fight or flight.  Once the sexual act or the beating ends and the honeymoon stage of the domestic violence cycle turns, oxytocin returns.  The players do not even recognize the danger signs, due to the “trust” serum their bodies keep producing.  Around the cycle they go.

“Steroid hormones, including glucocorticoids can influence the synthesis of, release of, and/or receptors for neuropeptides the kinds of neuropeptides … Hormones can reduce fear or behavioral inhibition and permit the expression of social behaviors, such as those necessary for pair bonding, maternal behavior” (Carter 784). 

Everyday these hormones are available to the cells, constantly changing, reflecting variations in emotions throughout the day, and making their way to the DNA in the cell, changing the genetic makeup, creating the individual by their experiences. People are the sum total of their experiences.

More research is needed for domestic violence to end, but being aware that there is a chemical component to the phenomena is enlightening.  “The literature on human and animal behavior consistently implicates stress, threatening situations, and hormones . . . in the formation of attachment” (Carter 784).  Hormones, steroid, neurotransmitters are all part of our physical body, and whether or not we want to admit it, these chemical are what makes a person think, feel and behave with predictable outcomes.  A person may want to think more than twice before stimulating the neurotransmitter Oxytocin.

The powerful productive reproductive organs make the human species more animalistic than society’s rules and regulations for taming the civilizations.  Thinking about having a relationship and propagating the species should be approached in the same manner as ones career choice, logically.  Phenotype, “the observable physical or biochemical characteristics of an organism, as determined by both genetic makeup and environmental” (Wikipedia)  Phenotype matching is another mating choice that seems to be more influenced by chemical processes in the body than a logical “thinking” process.  In an experiment performed on various animals by The Society for the Study of Evolution, they found that sexual imprinting had impact on our evolving species.

The difference between paternal and maternal imprinting in our models stems from the fact that all females had equal reproductive success, while males’ reproductive success varied according to female preferences this means that, with paternal imprinting, only successful males were imprinted upon, which increased the number of females preferring that type of male.  This generates greater positive frequency dependence compared to the other models, which makes it difficult to maintain polymorphism. (Verzijden 2106)

It is just as important to understand the dynamics and implications of sexual reproduction as it is to understand sexual imprinting and the consequences of addiction such as taking that first drug, having sex and now evolution.  Keeping in mind what future generations are being created and what is the responsibility of the individual to the masses.  These are not thought that come from a brain that is flooded with oxytocin.

In conclusion, all research indicates that oxytocin, vasopressin and glucocorticoid are extremely important neurotransmitters that the general public needs to be educated about.  When a child is born into this world, they do not come with an owner’s manual. However, with more scientific evidence and research on attachment and separation, genetic phenotypes, addictions, and human behavior, it is imperative that these break through discoveries should be mad a part of the parents’ guide to teach their children how to survive heartbreak.  Unfortunately, families are not staying together long enough, before the parents themselves are suffering from rejection and heartbreak.  What this world needs is a lot more oxytocin, or more education on keeping these neurotransmitter balanced in the human brain so that everyone can experience a “Happily Ever After.”  If an individual grows and develops and then discovers they are a beautiful swan, they have the right to scientist knowledge and to be educated enough to understand that what happened to them was explainable, that they had NOT been by a monster, it was just a duck!  There are ways to regain a healthy life, free of addiction.  It all starts with a desire for a better life. There truly are “Fifty Ways to Leave Your Lover.” 

Work Cited

Barker, Susan. ""Cuddle Hormone" Research Links Oxytocin and Socio-Sexual Behaviors."

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Published Sunday, February 12, 2012 11:27 AM by Little White Witch
Filed Under: Relationship Advice, Students lessons