RJA #9b: Freewriting

Does Oxytocin induce the primal instincts correlated to bonding required for successful reproduction? 

What has the power to bring two people in a busy environment to take the time to appreciate, protect, and support one another? The majority of the inhabitants of this planet would go towards the direction of love, but research produced in the past twenty years is starting to turn heads with the name Oxytocin. So what is oxytocin? It is a hormone which is produced in the pituitary gland located at the base of the brain. This single pea sized gland produces oxytocin during several interesting and notable periods and the effects of this miniscule hormone is almost unbelievable. Whenever a mating pair induces an orgasm by sexual relations the oxytocin hormone is produced in unimaginable amounts to provide the feeling many recognize as self satisfaction, security, generosity, increases in trust and decreases in fear. This is the basis of bonding and without it I believe the life cycle would not be existent. The most important part of a successful offspring is the beginning of a relationship, if the relationship is going smoothly and oxytocin supplies are constantly being rejuvenated the bond in the mating pair grows stronger and larger until it leads them to primal instinct of having the need to care for a child. Oxytocin provides the security and trust our species needs to create this bond, and to strengthen it at times of need. For instance, during labor oxytocin is much more concentrated in the uterus and in the brain of both the parents completely rewiring their brains to do anything and everything to care, protect, support, and love their newborn screaming child. Depriving a mother of this hormone would disengage the formations of the bond between mother and child giving the mother no interest in the newborn offspring, most likely letting it die on its own. Now not only does oxytocin create bonding in the cognitive sense, but it also provides bodily functions to function properly. Once the baby is born the mother’s breast is full of milk and nutrition for the young one to nourish, but many do not understand the process of the ability of giving nutrients. The milk is produced in the body without the aid of the oxytocin hormone, but without the aid of oxytocin the milk would never reach the passageway that leads to the nipple’s pores. Therefore the role of this neurotransmitter has just expanded to creating the ability to nurture or support. So far I have agreed with much of the information I have collaborated, and feel that without this hormone there would be no attraction, no bonding, no capability to survive without the mother support, and no reproductive capabilities. We shall see what else I will uncover.