The Hormone of Closeness offers an exciting physiological perspective on intimacy and relationships. The closeness hormone, oxytocin, give us comfort and peace, but it also creates and reinforces relationships throughout life. Based on current research, Kerstin Uvnäs Moberg, the author of the ground-breaking The Oxytocin Factor, describes the importance of oxytocin in the connection between parents and children, in love and companionship and in increasing trust in our society. The author argues that oxytocin plays a crucial part in our ability to socialise, feel secure and calm, work well and be healthy. She investigates the effects of oxytocin in pregnancy, childbirth, and breastfeeding, and looks at the role of oxytocin in the mother-child relationship and its long-term benefits. Oxytocin also has an important role to play in adult relationships. It creates a bond between lovers and stimulates social interaction allowing us to form friendships and work in groups. The sense of trust triggered by oxytocin enables us to trust in strangers and accounts for the Doula phenomenon. The relationship between food and closeness is explored, and we learn how the hormone of closeness can offer the key to good health and a longer life.

Oxytocin, or 'the hormone of health and life', is a hugely important substance for pregnancy, birth and breastfeeding working in a woman's body and brain to make changes during pregnancy, optimise labour, increase milk production and support bonding. Research has shown that we can encourage the body's oxytocin system by supporting mothers wellbeing through birth practices and postnatal care. We also now know that oxytocin is present in everyone, of any age, directing a whole system of effects that have consequences for family life, including bonding, stress reduction and social interaction. In Why Oxytocin Matters Kerstin Uvnäs Moberg, a leading oxytocin researcher, shows how a better understanding of our biology can be immensely helpful for new parents and those who work to support families.

Swedish medical doctor and physiologist Moberg persuades readers to cultivate the pleasurable moments of life-when our bodies produce the hormone oxytocin, the ready-made healing nectar she asserts is responsible for inducing peace, growth and bonding. As the ying to the better-known yang adrenaline, which triggers feelings of stress and defense, oxytocin increases social memory (like a mother's recognition of her child), she says, inspires serenity, spurs physical growth and healing, lowers blood pressure and regulates digestion. In simple, flowing prose Moberg argues that both hormones are equally necessary parts of a balanced, healthy physiological system. She explains how oxytocin works to inspire calm and connection, and explores the various physical and mental routes to activate it. While Moberg admits that her assumptions are largely based on piecemeal evidence from experiments and observations of animals and humans, she provides a clear, lay introduction to a little-known hormone and a convincing case for further studies.

The biological and psychological basis of pet therapy / animal-assisted therapy and what this means for practice "A comprehensive, scientific foundation for human-animal therapy." (Judith Solomon) In recent years, the ancient symbiosis between humans and their pets has entered a new phase, marked by the burgeoning clinical specialty of human-animal therapy. This approach uses the relationship between humans and their (mainly) mammalian pets to support the growth of emotion regulation, social skills, and mental health in children, adolescents, and adults. But how are humans and animals able to develop close bonds at all? What makes it possible for animals to have a therapeutic effect on humans? And how can we best use this understanding in animal-assisted therapy? In this unique book, a team of expert biologists and psychologists integrate and combine sophisticated biological and psychological knowledge to answer these questions. Together they have created a comprehensive, scientific foundation for human-animal therapy, a foundation that will facilitate the development, implementation, and evaluation of effective new interventions.

En años recientes se han realizado apasionantes descubrimientos científicos de una hormona cuyo sorprendente papel en el cuerpo humano durante mucho tiempo no se tuvo en cuenta. Nos referimos a la oxitocina, la poderosa hormona responsable de nuestra rela

Die renommierte Autorin und Oxytocinforscherin, Kerstin Uvnäs Moberg, betrachtet in diesem Buch Nähe und Beziehung aus einem höchst spannenden physiologischen Blickwinkel. Nähe, Körperkontakt und Beziehung stimulieren die Ausschüttung von Oxytocin. Dieses „Hormon der Nähe“ bewirkt Ruhe und Entspannung, baut Angst ab, verbessert unsere Wahrnehmung für Beziehungssignale, erhöht unser Vertrauen in andere Menschen und führt insgesamt dazu, dass wir leistungsfähiger und gesünder sind. Die Herausgeber der vorliegenden deutschen Ausgabe, Uta Streit und Fritz Jansen, haben das Werk für den deutschsprachigen Markt überarbeitet und entsprechend angepasst. Sie sind erfahrene Psychotherapeuten und Experten für den Bereich Körperkontakt. In Zusammenhang mit dem von Frau Uvnäs Moberg vermittelten Wissen eröffnen sie zukunftsweisende Perspektiven: Für das Verstehen von Beziehungsproblemen, das Verstehen der Auswirkungen von Körperkontaktstörungen und die enormen Chancen, die eine Nutzung von Nähe und Körperkontakt im Rahmen der Therapie unterschiedlichster Störungsbilder - vom Säugling bis zum alten Menschen - bietet.

Die uralte Beziehung zwischen Mensch und Tier hat in jüngerer Zeit durch den Einsatz von Tieren in Therapie und Pädagogik neues Interesse geweckt. Tiergestützte Interventionen nutzen die Beziehung zwischen Mensch und Tier, um psychische Gesundheit zu fördern und die soziale, emotionale und sogar kognitive Entwicklung von Kindern, Jugendlichen und Erwachsenen zu unterstützen. Aber warum sind Menschen und Tiere überhaupt in der Lage, Beziehungen einzugehen? Warum kann diese Beziehung einen therapeutischen Effekt haben? Und wie lässt sich dieses Wissen für die Praxis tiergestützter Interventionen nutzen? In diesem einzigartigen Buch haben führende Fachleute aus Psychologie, Neurobiologie und Evolutionsbiologie aktuelle Wissensbestände ihrer Fachrichtungen integriert, um diese Fragen zu beantworten. Zusammen haben sie ein wissenschaftliches Erklärungsmodell entwickelt, das die bisherigen Daten erklärbar macht und die weitere Entwicklung, Implementation und Evaluation effektiver, tiergestützter Interventionen ermöglicht.