Dysregulated responses to emotions among abstinent heroin users: correlation with childhood neglect and addiction severity
Abstract
The aim of this paper was to investigate the subjective responses of abstinent heroin users to both neutral and negative stimuli and the related hypothalamus-pituitary-adrenal reactions to emotional experience in relationship to their perception of childhood adverse experiences. Thirty male abstinent heroin dependents were included in the study. Emotional responses and childhood neglect perception were measured utilizing the State-Trait Anxiety Inventory Y-1 and the Child Experience of Care and Abuse Questionnaire. Neutral and unpleasant pictures selected from the International Affective Picture System and the Self-Assessment Manikin procedure have been used to determine ratings of pleasure and arousal. These ratings were compared with normative values obtained from healthy volunteers used as control. Blood samples were collected before and after the experimental sessions to determine both adrenocorticotropic hormone and cortisol plasma levels. Basal anxiety scores, cortisol and adrenocorticotropic hormone levels were higher in abstinent heroin users than in controls. Tests showed that anxiety scores did not change in controls after the vision of neutral slides, whilst they did in abstinent heroin addicts, increasing significantly; and increased less significantly after the unpleasant task, in comparison to controls. Abstinent heroin users showed significantly higher levels of parent antipathy and childhood emotional neglect perception than controls for both the father and the mother. Plasma adrenocorticotropic hormone and cortisol levels did not significantly increase after unpleasant slide set viewing among addicted individuals, because of the significantly higher basal levels characterizing the addicted subjects in comparison with controls. Multiple regression correlation showed a significant relationship between childhood neglect perception, arousal reaction, impaired hypothalamus-pituitary-adrenal axis response and addiction severity. Early adverse experiences seem to affect the entire interaction between hyper-arousal, reduced hormonal response to stress and addiction severity. Our findings, although obtained in a small number of subjects, indicate a significant link between the perception of parental style/care/support during childhood and the ability to cope with stressful emotional stimuli in adulthood and addiction severity.
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ACE and substance dependence have combined negative effects on stress reactivity in the HPA axis.
“Indeed, recent research illustrates the combined negative effects of ACE and substance dependence on stress reactivity in the HPA axis (Doan et al., in press; Gerra et al., 2014; Schäfer et al., 2010).”
From Effects of adverse childhood experiences on the association between intranasal oxytocin and social stress reactivity among individuals with cocaine dependence (2015) · cites this paper as Gerra et al., 2014
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- Authors
- Gerra, G., Somaini, L., Manfredini, M., Raggi, M. A., Saracino, M. A., Amore, M., Leonardi, C., Cortese, E., & Donnini, C.
- Affiliations
- United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (AT)
- University of Parma (IT)
- University of Bologna (IT)
- University of Genoa (IT)
- Corresponding author
- Somaini, L.
- Venue
- Progress in Neuro-Psychopharmacology and Biological Psychiatry
- Publisher
- Elsevier BV
- Published
- 2014-01
- Volume
- 48
- Pages
- 220-228
- ISSN
- 0278-5846 (ISSN-L)
- OpenAlex
- W1987546331
- Cited by
- 37
- References
- 36
- Citations by year
- 2025: 1 · 2024: 4 · 2023: 2 · 2022: 3 · 2021: 4 · 2020: 2 · 2019: 8 · 2018: 2 · 2017: 5 · 2016: 2 · 2015: 2 · 2014: 2
- FWCI
- 0.91
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- closed
- Locations
- Progress in Neuro-Psychopharmacology and Biological Psychiatry (publishedVersion)
- PubMed (publishedVersion)
- Archivio istituzionale della ricerca (Alma Mater Studiorum Università di Bologna) (submittedVersion)
- CINECA IRIS Institutial Research Information System (University of Genoa) (submittedVersion)
- Topics
- Life Sciences › Neuroscience › Behavioral Neuroscience › Stress Responses and Cortisol
- Social Sciences › Psychology › Clinical Psychology › Child Abuse and Trauma
- Health Sciences › Medicine › Epidemiology › Substance Abuse Treatment and Outcomes
- Keywords
- heroin addiction, abstinence, child neglect, childhood adversity, hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal axis, cortisol, ACTH, emotional arousal, anxiety, addiction severity, parental care, stress response
- MeSH terms
- Adolescent, Adrenocorticotropic Hormone, Adult, Analysis of Variance, Arousal, Child, Child Abuse, Child, Preschool, Heroin Dependence, Humans, Hydrocortisone, Infant, Male, Psychiatric Status Rating Scales, Surveys and Questionnaires, Severity of Illness Index, Linear Models, Mood Disorders, Young Adult
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