Neuropharmacological Basis of Social Connection: The Role of Opioids
Status:
Completed
Trial end date:
2014-02-01
Target enrollment:
Participant gender:
Summary
From birth we rely on others for comfort and care and derive pleasure from being together.
Research from the fields of health psychology, social psychology, and public health converge
to highlight the importance of having and maintaining good relationships for overall health.
Indeed, having close friends and family and feeling connected to them has been called a basic
need, similar to our need for food and water. It may not be a coincidence then that feelings
of connection rely on similar systems in the body as other needs that are both basic and
highly pleasing and rewarding. For instance, its possible that opioids, a substance in the
body associated with pleasant, euphoric feelings, may also be important for connecting with
others. This study will examine the role of opioids in feeling connected to others by
administering a drug called naltrexone, that effects opioid processing in the body, on
perceptions and feelings toward a number of tasks in the lab. Additionally, to assess the
effects of naltrexone outside of the lab, participants will complete daily diary responses
via text and online surveys.
40 participants will take both placebo and naltrexone. Participants will complete two
sessions, one in each drug condition, in which they complete a number of tasks including
reading messages on a computer screen, holding a number of objects, and viewing images while
undergoing electric shocks. Participants will also complete a daily diary for 14 days while
on naltrexone and placebo. Prior to these lab sessions participants will be screened at
UCLA's Clinical & Translational Research Center (CTRC) to ensure that they are healthy and
that it is safe for them to take the study drug.
We hypothesize that people will report feeling less socially connected when on naltrexone
compared to placebo and will show subsequent changes in social behavior outside of the lab.