Did your mother think you were unusual as a baby? Did you bond with your parents as a young child? I’d expect there to be some symptoms there if you truly have an oxytocin abnormality.
For my family this is much more of a “wow that makes so much sense” than a “wow what a surprise”. It tracks extremely well with how I acted growing up, in a bunch of different little ways. Indeed, once the hypothesis was on my radar at all, it quickly seemed pretty probable on that basis alone, even before sequencing came back.
A few details/examples:
As a child, I had a very noticeable lack of interest in other people (especially those my own age), to the point where a school psychologist thought it was notable.
I remember being unusually eager to go off to overnight summer camp (without my parents), at an age where nobody bothered to provide overnight summer camp because kids that young were almost all too anxious to be away from their parents that long.
When family members or pets died, I’ve generally been noticeably less emotionally impacted than the rest of the family.
When out and about with the family, I’ve always tended to wander around relatively independently of the rest of the group.
Those examples are relatively easy to explain, but most of my bits here come from less legible things. It’s been very clear for a long time that I relate to other people unusually, in a way that intuitively matches being at the far low end of the oxytocin signalling axis.
Though beyond a certain level of development we have numerous other drives beyond the oxytocin-related ones. Hence why you-as-a-baby might be particularly telling. From what I understand, oxytocin is heavily involved in infant-caregiver bonding and is what enables mothers to soothe their babies so effectively (very much on my mind right now as I am typing this comment while a baby naps on me haha).
Whereas once you’re above a certain age, the rational mind and other traits probably have an increasingly strong effect. For example, if you’re very interested in your own thoughts and ideas, this might overwhelm your desire to be close to family members.
Anyway, it seems likely that your oxytocin hypothesis is correct either way. Cool finding!
I have a similar intuition about how some other people are missing a disgust response that I have. Seems like a biological thing that some people have much less of than others and it has a significant effect on how we relate to others.
Did your mother think you were unusual as a baby? Did you bond with your parents as a young child? I’d expect there to be some symptoms there if you truly have an oxytocin abnormality.
For my family this is much more of a “wow that makes so much sense” than a “wow what a surprise”. It tracks extremely well with how I acted growing up, in a bunch of different little ways. Indeed, once the hypothesis was on my radar at all, it quickly seemed pretty probable on that basis alone, even before sequencing came back.
A few details/examples:
As a child, I had a very noticeable lack of interest in other people (especially those my own age), to the point where a school psychologist thought it was notable.
I remember being unusually eager to go off to overnight summer camp (without my parents), at an age where nobody bothered to provide overnight summer camp because kids that young were almost all too anxious to be away from their parents that long.
When family members or pets died, I’ve generally been noticeably less emotionally impacted than the rest of the family.
When out and about with the family, I’ve always tended to wander around relatively independently of the rest of the group.
Those examples are relatively easy to explain, but most of my bits here come from less legible things. It’s been very clear for a long time that I relate to other people unusually, in a way that intuitively matches being at the far low end of the oxytocin signalling axis.
Interesting. That seems like reasonable evidence.
Though beyond a certain level of development we have numerous other drives beyond the oxytocin-related ones. Hence why you-as-a-baby might be particularly telling. From what I understand, oxytocin is heavily involved in infant-caregiver bonding and is what enables mothers to soothe their babies so effectively (very much on my mind right now as I am typing this comment while a baby naps on me haha).
Whereas once you’re above a certain age, the rational mind and other traits probably have an increasingly strong effect. For example, if you’re very interested in your own thoughts and ideas, this might overwhelm your desire to be close to family members.
Anyway, it seems likely that your oxytocin hypothesis is correct either way. Cool finding!
I have a similar intuition about how some other people are missing a disgust response that I have. Seems like a biological thing that some people have much less of than others and it has a significant effect on how we relate to others.