Neural responses to negative events and subsequent persistence behavior differ in individuals recovering from opioid use disorder compared to controls

TY - JOUR

T1 - Neural responses to negative events and subsequent persistence behavior differ in individuals recovering from opioid use disorder compared to controls

AU - Bhanji, Jamil P.

AU - Delgado, Mauricio R.

AU - Ray, Suchismita

N1 - Funding Information: This research was supported by funding from the National Institutes of Health to S.R. [DA044496] and a RU-N Initiative for Multidisciplinary Research Teams Awards. Publisher Copyright: © 2021 Taylor & Francis Group, LLC.

PY - 2021

Y1 - 2021

N2 - Background: Negative emotion is associated with substance craving and use in individuals recovering from substance use disorders, including prescription opioid use disorder (POUD). Decisions to abandon or persist towards a goal after negative emotion-eliciting events, and neural responses that shape such decisions, may be important in maintaining recovery from POUD. Objectives: We examined differences in neural responses to negative events and subsequent persistence decisions in individuals recovering from POUD without a history of a substance use disorder. Methods: 20 individuals with POUD (POUD group: 4 females, abstinent 2–3 weeks after admission to an inpatient treatment facility post-detoxification, no other substance use disorder), and 20 individuals with no substance use history (control group: 6 females) completed a persistence-after-setbacks task during functional magnetic resonance imaging. Participants advanced along a path toward a reward; after encountering each negative event (i.e., progress-erasing setback), participants made decisions to persist or abandon the path. Persistence decision rates were compared between groups and blood-oxygen-level-dependent signal to negative events was analyzed within a striatum region of interest (ROI) as well as whole-brain. Results: The POUD group persisted less (t(38) = 2.293, p = .028, d = .725) and showed lower striatum (left ventral putamen) signal to negative events compared to the control group (p < .05, corrected for striatum ROI). Conclusions: In POUD, neural and behavioral responses to negative events differ from controls. These differences are a target for research to address whether POUD treatment increases persistence and striatum responses to negative events and improves recovery outcomes.

AB - Background: Negative emotion is associated with substance craving and use in individuals recovering from substance use disorders, including prescription opioid use disorder (POUD). Decisions to abandon or persist towards a goal after negative emotion-eliciting events, and neural responses that shape such decisions, may be important in maintaining recovery from POUD. Objectives: We examined differences in neural responses to negative events and subsequent persistence decisions in individuals recovering from POUD without a history of a substance use disorder. Methods: 20 individuals with POUD (POUD group: 4 females, abstinent 2–3 weeks after admission to an inpatient treatment facility post-detoxification, no other substance use disorder), and 20 individuals with no substance use history (control group: 6 females) completed a persistence-after-setbacks task during functional magnetic resonance imaging. Participants advanced along a path toward a reward; after encountering each negative event (i.e., progress-erasing setback), participants made decisions to persist or abandon the path. Persistence decision rates were compared between groups and blood-oxygen-level-dependent signal to negative events was analyzed within a striatum region of interest (ROI) as well as whole-brain. Results: The POUD group persisted less (t(38) = 2.293, p = .028, d = .725) and showed lower striatum (left ventral putamen) signal to negative events compared to the control group (p < .05, corrected for striatum ROI). Conclusions: In POUD, neural and behavioral responses to negative events differ from controls. These differences are a target for research to address whether POUD treatment increases persistence and striatum responses to negative events and improves recovery outcomes.

KW - Addiction

KW - affect

KW - aversive

KW - decision

KW - emotion

KW - fmri

KW - persistence

KW - striatum

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U2 - 10.1080/00952990.2021.1888960

DO - 10.1080/00952990.2021.1888960

M3 - Article

C2 - 33735587

SN - 0095-2990

VL - 47

SP - 319

EP - 329

JO - American Journal of Drug and Alcohol Abuse

JF - American Journal of Drug and Alcohol Abuse

IS - 3

ER -