may have significant influence on the rewarding aspects of alcohol and other substances of abuse (Baskerville and Douglas, 2010, Burkett and Young, 2012). Oxytocin is also known to exert potent anti-stress and anxiolytic effects (Jurek et al., 2015, Peters et al., 2014, Slattery and Neumann, 2010) through interaction with the HPA-axis and extra-hypothalamic stress-related brain regions, thereby enabling OXT to contribute to the regulation of negative affect and stress-related behaviors relevant to addiction. The role of OXT in various neurobehavioral and neurochemical aspects of alcohol and drug addiction are described below. Additionally, current evidence pointing to the therapeutic potential for OXT as a treatment for alcohol and substance use disorders is presented as well.
