This volume collects cutting-edge expert reviews in the oxytocin field and will be of interest
to a broad scientific audience ranging from social neuroscience to clinical psychiatry. The
role of the neuropeptide oxytocin in social behaviors is one of the earliest and most
significant discoveries in social neuroscience. Influential studies in animal models have
delineated many of the neural circuits and genetic components that underlie these behaviors.
These discoveries have inspired researchers to investigate the effects of oxytocin on brain and
behavior in humans and its potential relevance as a treatment for psychiatric disorders
including borderline personality disorder and autism and schizophrenia spectrum disorders. In
fact there is no established social psychopharmacology in Psychiatry and oxytocin can be seen
as the first endogenous agent specifically addressing social-cognitive impairment in
psychiatric disorders with animal research suggesting that it could be especially efficient in
the early postnatal period. From a human perspective it is crucial to understand more
precisely who can benefit from potential oxytocin-related treatments which outcome measures
will best represent their effects how they should be administered and what brain mechanisms
are likely involved in mediating their effects. This type of precision medicine approach is in
line with the research domain criteria defined by the U.S. National Institute of Mental Health.
