Oxytocin and attachment facilitate a shift from seeking novelty to recognizing and preferring familiarity the key to increasing resilience?

Abstract

Attachment can increase resilience in the face of stress and ward off addiction. We propose an underlying mechanism that is located in the interaction between oxytocinergic and dopaminergic systems. In the distinction between “wanting” and “liking,” it has been hypothesized that dopamine is involved in the “wanting” aspect of reactive reward processing. We propose that oxytocin and attachment play a main role in “liking” or stable appreciation. Ordinarily a reward increases the “liking” of the rewarding stimulus, while satiety decreases the “wanting” of that reward. However, continued drug use and stress will reduce liking and increase the wanting of drugs, even though the drug may no longer..