Highlighting its potential role in facilitating resilience, a higher level of oxytocin increases the likelihood that threatening situations will be perceived as challenges rather than as stressors (Olff, et al., 2013). Likewise, the importance of OXTR in substance use and other long-term outcomes of interest is suggested by the high density of OXTR in the cortex, hippocampus, limbic system, and amygdala among other regions thought to be involved in regulating mood and addictive behavior (Sarnyai, 2011). Further, in animal models, variation in oxytocin influences development of tolerance to opioids and alcohol as well as presence of withdrawal symptoms (Kovacs, et al., 1998), and may have potential to inoculate against future vulnerability to substance use (McGregor & Brown, 2012). At the same time, the oxytocin system has been shown to regulate cognitive and emotional responses, reduce activation of the amygdala, and augment connectivity between the amygdala and brain structures supporting affective control (Gamer, Zurowski, and Buchel, 2010; Puglia et al., 2015), all potential longer-term outcomes of interest to prevention researchers.
