Effects of naloxone on normals and chronically anxious patients.
A significant number of normal and chronically anxious subjects were able to discriminate subjectively between a session in which they received naloxone and one which they received a placebo. However, affective and physiological measures did not differ significantly between the drug and placebo sessions. The weakness of the response makes it unlikely that a naloxone-responsive endogenous opioid system is substantially involved in the regulation of anxiety. An unexpected finding from the placebo session data was that, despite increased forehead muscle tension and high self-ratings of distress, chronically anxious subjects showed consistently stable sympathetic activity under resting conditions and mild stress, indicating the existence of a subgroup of generalized anxiety patients with low autonomic reactivity.
D000328:Adult; D001008:Anxiety Disorders / Q000503:physiopathology* / Q000523:psychology; D002908:Chronic Disease; D004644:Emotions / Q000187:drug effects; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D009119:Muscle Contraction; D009270:Naloxone / Q000494:pharmacology*; D013312:Stress, Physiological / Q000503:physiopathology; D013564:Sympathetic Nervous System / Q000187:drug effects
D009270:Naloxone