Serotonin & Oxytocin

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I read the article on the main page about these chemicals being released in the brain to fuel our obsessions. If that's possible, could it also be possible that they could be 'misapplied' in other ways? Since we're pretty much all in agreement that most Aspies are as different from each other as we are from NTs, I think that those of us who don't have especially intense interests might have that enthusiasm triggered by something else. For example, specific places (or types of places), atmospheric conditions, weather conditions; basically, environments. If that sounds abstract, then it's probably not something you've had.

Do you mean that when the weather changes, you change interests or are you interested in weather changes? I don't get your point, sorry.

No, I mean that you only want to be in certain climates or environments. Maybe it has more to do with anxiety or bipolar disorder or something.

I think this is another thing that changes slower in Autistics. Apparently, aroung 7-9 everyone sees a lot of changes happen. They just don't change as much for autistics. SO, the stims, emotions, mental abilities, joy of learning, etc... stay much as they were.

Steve

I think the bonding aspect of oxytocin could absolutely be applied to a specific climate. I know that personally, regardless of what may be going on in my life, I always feel happy in certain weather/environments. This may be due to having felt happy previously in said environments; perhaps the physical sensation bonds with the emotional sensation such that an emotion can be accessed by recreating the physical environment associated with it.

As long as we're on the subject of oxytocin - I thought I'd relate an experience I had. It may not be entirely relevant, but I found it interesting:

I know oxytocin as "the pregnancy hormone", and haven't really heard it mentioned another context until now. Large amounts of oxytocin are produced and released during pregnancy, labor, and continuing for 9+ months after birth, at which time it plays a role in bonding and maternal behaviour. The presence of oxytocin in the months after birth have been know to cause a new mother to feel scatterbrained and otherwise disoriented.
So...
At the beginning of my pregnancy, I took an IQ test and got 147, which is roughly what I always get. Then, when my daughter was about 10 months old, I took the same test again and got 117. I took it a couple more times to be sure. So my theory is that the high amounts of oxytocin have an effect on IQ, at least temporarily. Perhaps the oxytocin just makes it more difficult to concentrate on something like an IQ test, thereby causing one to score lower. I've also noticed that after pregnancy, I seem have a mild dyslexia. I don't suppose anyone else has noticed a correlation between oxytocin and IQ?

I too feel that certain aspects of the weather strike me as particularly exhilerating. But I'm not sure that this is all that odd.

Chimaera, I've never taken Oxycotin or been pregnant, so I can't say. I only used that term because it's what was used on the front page.

Let me try to illustrate what I'm trying to say. When I was a kid I used to spend whole days obsessively making forts just so I could stay in inside them and read or whatever, because I felt more comfortable reading inside them than outside. To this day I obsessively rearrange my furniture sometimes several times a month to try to find the set up that "works." It doesn't have anything to do with feng shui, at least that I know of. I can't deal with bare walls, white carpets, or bright overhead lighting. I fill my apartment with christmas lights, other ornamental lights, novelty lights, and just generally weird ground based lamps. When I go into warehouses, or when I drive to the industral side of town, I almost invariable get a sort of detached feeling of contentment and well being (and I'm not particularly drawn to insutry or warehousing or anything like that) because of the sense of space. And I'm not even going to get into weather.

Tonight I experienced near-ecstasy at the temperature, air humidity, and the fact that it was nighttime. It's happened more than once, so I am considering that it might be an environmental stim. I was feeling "content" when I was outside tonight.

http://www.wrongplanet.net/modules.php? ... t=oxytocin

Is a link to an old thread on Oxytocin.

I too am completely at the mercy of my environment. Can relate to the lighting thing. Spaces affect me very strongly, positive or negative.

Not sure about the beginning part of this, though.