Abstract
Eight volunteers maintained on daily methadone participated in a classical conditioning procedure to determine which if any of the elements of narcotic withdrawal could be conditioned. The unconditioned stimulus was the injection of a small dose of naloxone. The unconditioned response was a brief precipitated withdrawal syndrome. The conditioning stimulus was a tone, odor, and injection of saline. Conditioning was successful in the pilot study in 5 of 8 subjects. The conditioned response consisted of tearing, yawning, lacrimation, systolic blood pressure increase, respiratory irregularities and subjective feelings of narcotic withdrawal sickness (nausea, muscle aches, chills). A second group of 8 subjects showed, in addition to the above, evidence of conditioning of heart rate, respiratory rate and skin temperature decrease. These laboratory findings support the clinical reports of a conditioned withdrawal syndrome and suggest ways to improve treatment results by detecting and extinguishing or modifying conditioned responses.
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O’Brien, C.P., Testa, T., O’Brien, T.J. et al. Conditioning in human opiate addicts. Pav. J. Biol. Sci. 11, 195–202 (1976). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF03000314
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF03000314