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Dysregulation of emotional response in current and abstinent heroin users: negative heightening and positive blunting

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Abstract

Objective

Evidence suggests that abstinent opioid users have abnormal emotional response to natural reinforcing stimuli, but little is known about the emotional response of subjects currently using heroin. Abnormal emotional experience could underlie poor sensitivity to negative events related to heroin use and reduced ability to consider alternative reinforcers to help overcome addiction. In this paper, we will assess the subjective response of current and abstinent heroin users exposed to emotionally competent positive and negative stimuli.

Materials and methods

We administered the “Clinical Instrument for Emotional Response Evaluation” (including neutral, pleasant, and unpleasant images from the International Affective Picture System) to 22 current opioid users enrolled in a clinical trial using controlled prescribed heroin and 41 abstinent opioid users enrolled in residential treatment. The dependent variable was their subjective response to the images measured with the Self-Assessment Manikin, a scale designed to rate the International Affective Picture System (IAPS) images in the three dimensions of emotion: valence, arousal, and dominance. We compared these ratings with IAPS normative values for healthy participants.

Results

Significant group × emotional condition interactions were found in the arousal dimension. Post-hoc tests showed that compared to healthy participants, both current and abstinent heroin users had greater emotional response to neutral images and lower response to pleasant images. Furthermore, current opioid users had higher emotional response to unpleasant images when compared to healthy participants and lower response to pleasant images when compared to abstinent users.

Conclusions

Current opioid users have abnormal emotional experience, characterized by heightened response to unpleasant stimuli and blunted response to pleasant stimuli.

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Acknowledgments

Funded by (1) Drug Comission, Council for Equality and Social Welfare, Andalusian Government and (2) Grant BSO2003-07169 from the Spanish Ministry of Science and Technology. The authors declare no conflict of interest.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Dept. Personalidad, Evaluación y Tratamiento Psicológico, Universidad de Granada, Granada, Spain

    Francisco Aguilar de Arcos, Antonio Verdejo-García, María Sánchez-Barrera, Ángeles López-Jiménez & Miguel Pérez-García

  2. Cortijo Buenos Aires, Junta de Andalucía, Granada, Spain

    Francisco Aguilar de Arcos, Matilde Montañez-Pareja & Encarnación López-Juárez

  3. Pharmacology Research Unit, Institut Municipal d’Investigació Mèdica Barcelona, Barcelona, Spain

    Antonio Verdejo-García

  4. Hortaleza Mental Health Services, Comunidad de Madrid, Madrid, Spain

    Antonio Ceverino

  5. Institute of Neuroscience, Universidad de Granada, Granada, Spain

    Antonio Verdejo-García & Miguel Pérez-García

Authors
  1. Francisco Aguilar de Arcos
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  2. Antonio Verdejo-García
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  3. Antonio Ceverino
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  4. Matilde Montañez-Pareja
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  5. Encarnación López-Juárez
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  6. María Sánchez-Barrera
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  7. Ángeles López-Jiménez
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  8. Miguel Pérez-García
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Francisco Aguilar de Arcos.

Additional information

Francisco Aguilar de Arcos and Antonio Verdejo-García, have contributed equally to the development of this manuscript.PEPSA team: Andrés Estrada Moreno, José Manuel Rodríguez, Francisco González-Sáiz, Rosario Ballesta, Salvador Rodríguez, Joan Carles March, Manuel Romero and Miguel Marset.

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Aguilar de Arcos, F., Verdejo-García, A., Ceverino, A. et al. Dysregulation of emotional response in current and abstinent heroin users: negative heightening and positive blunting. Psychopharmacology 198, 159–166 (2008). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00213-008-1110-2

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00213-008-1110-2

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