Non-medical prescription opioid users exhibit dysfunctional physiological stress responses to social rejection

In recent decades, the misuse of prescription opioids (e.g., morphine, fentanyl, oxycodone, or codeine) has increased dramatically. Especially in the U.S., non-medical prescription opioid use (NMPOU) has reached epidemic dimensions, with a past-year prevalence of 37.8%, of which 12.5% fulfilled opioid misuse criteria (Han et al., 2017). Accordingly, NMPOU-related deaths dramatically increased by 265% from 2012 to 2015 (UNODC, 2017). Importantly, a relapse rate of up to 91% after detoxification for opioids is higher than for any other drug of abuse (Smyth et al., 2010), thereby signifying a lack of effective long-term treatments for opioid abstinence.

Source: Psychoneuroendocrinology - September 19, 2018 Category: Psychiatry Authors: Sara L. Kroll, DeWayne P. Williams, Martina Thoma, Matthias Staib, Tina M. Binz, Markus R. Baumgartner, Clemens Kirschbaum, Julian F. Thayer, Boris B. Quednow Source Type: research