Study Examines Mental Withdrawal from Opiate Abuse
Opiate abuse is a growing problem in this country, but you may be more familiar with it described as prescription drug addiction. Either way, the opiate is the drug of choice and individuals can very quickly develop dependence and then an addiction that could eventually end his or her life.
A recent Medical News Today report examined how individuals recovering from opiate dependence reported acute withdrawal symptoms. While these symptoms can pass relatively quickly, individuals with this addiction also report that it is often weeks or months before they report feeling “normal.”
Often referred to as “protracted abstinence syndrome,” the period of time after opiates are withdrawn from the system generally involves a cluster of vague, depression-like symptoms that can include reduced concentration, poor sleep quality, a low energy level and even anhedonia.
French researchers set out to examine this phenomenon in mice. The animals had chronic morphine exposure and demonstrated decreasing physical dependence after the morphine was withdrawn. After four weeks, the mice no longer had any physical withdrawal. By contrast, after weeks of abstinence, the mice had low sociability and despair.
When the mice were treated with the antidepressant fluoxetine, researchers found that they were able to prevent the development of both social aversion and despair behaviors. The group believes the fluoxetine was successful because it targets the serotonin system, which is known to influence the mood.
The senior author on the study explained that the findings from this research suggest there is a direct link between an abstinence from morphine and depressive-like symptoms. She says the study suggests a causal effect of serotonin dysfunction in the depression features that are associated with abstinence.
