r/science • u/mvea Professor | Medicine • Feb 08 '25

Neuroscience Specific neurons that secrete oxytocin in the brain are disrupted in a mouse model of autism, neuroscientists have found. Stimulating these neurons restored social behaviors in these mice. These findings could help to develop new ways to treat autism.

https://www.riken.jp/en/news_pubs/research_news/rr/20250207_1/index.html
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u/LittleEggThings Feb 09 '25

For my wife who has autism, she describes it as a delayed processing of her feelings. She knows she feels something, but has a really hard time describing what she’s feeling even if the feeling is intense.

For example, if someone says something that upsets her, it can feel really off for a while and it can be anywhere from an hour to days afterwards that it just hits and she realizes she was angry at the time because the person said xyz.

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u/Lettuphant Feb 09 '25

A lot of autistic people have a really hard time "feeling their feelings". So many go to therapy, and the therapist spends the first X months trying to explain that they are intellectualising emotions, examining them instead of feeling them. That emotions are the things your body is doing, from the heightened heart rate to the flush of cheeks to the sting of eyes to sensation of muscles pulling your mouth unheeded into a smile.

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u/skippydi34 Feb 09 '25

But neurotypical people don't need to observe this. I know that I'm nervous the second I am. I don't think about it. I have a hard time to understand how it feels to not have this feeling.

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u/Suspense6 Feb 09 '25

Yeah, it's weird. Sometimes I feel things and I understand the feelings and where they came from and how they're affecting my behavior. Other times any of those steps can be missing or confused. I think I feel emotions very strongly, but I don't always know what they are. Sometimes I see someone's behavior toward me change, and that's my first clue and I have to follow it back. They're reacting to something about me... oh I'm feeling something... my teeth are clenched... oh I see I feel very stressed.