An experimental study of aggressive and neutral interpretative bias in opiate-dependent and opiate-abstinent men.
There is a paucity of research on the relationship between opiate use and aggression, and no previous study has examined this from a cognitive theoretical perspective, which views an individual's interpretation of information as a central mediator of their response to it. This study aimed to determine whether opiate users and ex-users differed from opiate-naïve controls on a task which involved processing ambiguous sentences. In an independent group design, the interpretative bias task was administered to 64 participants: 21 opiate-dependent receiving methadone maintenance treatment, 21 opiate-abstinent in rehabilitation, and 22 healthy unemployed controls. We found that both opiate-dependent and opiate-abstinent groups interpreted ambiguous sentences in a neutral rather than an aggressive way, whereas controls showed no bias in either direction. In the opiate-dependent group, neutral interpretative bias correlated both with their current dose of methadone and years of methadone use. These findings indicate that current and ex-opiate users in treatment have a bias towards neutral interpretations of ambiguous information. The fact that neutral interpretative bias in opiate-dependent individuals correlated with current dose and years of methadone use suggests that methadone treatment is associated with a neutral cognitive bias. Decreased testosterone levels associated with chronic opiate use may underpin this neutral bias.
Clinical Psychopharmacology Unit, University College London, London, UK.
J
J
Clair
L
L
Martin
A J
AJ
Bond
D
D
O'Ryan
P
P
Davis
H V
HV
Curran
D000328:Adult; D000374:Aggression; D015982:Bias; D016022:Case-Control Studies; D003071:Cognition; D055030:Drug Users / Q000523:psychology*; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008691:Methadone / Q000627:therapeutic use; D008875:Middle Aged; D009293:Opioid-Related Disorders / Q000523:psychology* / Q000534:rehabilitation; D011581:Psychological Tests; D015813:Substance Abuse Detection / Q000706:statistics & numerical data
D008691:Methadone