ReviewPsychopharmacology2012
The behavioral, anatomical and pharmacological parallels between social attachment, love and addiction.
Review in Psychopharmacology, 2012. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 100 papers, 3 of them syntheses that pooled it.
What it found
Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.
The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.
Who cites it
100 citing papers in PubMed, 3 syntheses or guidelines pooled it, 302 citations in OpenAlex.
- The effect of significant other involvement in treatment for substance use disorders: A meta-analysis.Journal of consulting and clinical psychology · 2020Pooled it
- Neural pathways of maternal responding: systematic review and meta-analysis.Archives of women's mental health · 2019Pooled it
- A meta-analysis of longitudinal associations between substance use and interpersonal attachment security.Psychological bulletin · 2018Pooled it
- Electrophysiological correlates of oxytocin-induced enhancement of social performance monitoring.Social cognitive and affective neuroscience · 2017Trial
- Complexity of oxytocin׳s effects in a chronic cocaine dependent population.European neuropsychopharmacology : the journal of the European College of Neuropsychopharmacology · 2014Trial
- Effects of MDMA and Intranasal oxytocin on social and emotional processing.Neuropsychopharmacology : official publication of the American College of Neuropsychopharmacology · 2014Trial
- Oxytocin enhances brain reward system responses in men viewing the face of their female partner.Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America · 2013Trial
- In the company of others: social factors alter acute alcohol effects.Psychopharmacology · 2013Trial
- A social cascades model of addiction: Examining effects of psychological interventions on social and substance use outcomes via meta-analytic review.Psychological bulletin · 2026Article
- The Invisible Abuser: Attachment, Victimization, and Perpetrator Perception in Repeat Abuse.Violence against women · 2026Article
- Photocaged Oxytocin and Vasopressin Probes to Decipher Neuropeptide Signalling With High Spatiotemporal Resolution.Angewandte Chemie (International ed. in English) · 2026Article
- Updated Freudian drive theory: childhood trauma, epigenetics, serotonin and beta endorphin.Frontiers in psychiatry · 2026Article
- Transdiagnostic prevention in youth mental health, Part II: interventions.Neuropsychopharmacology : official publication of the American College of Neuropsychopharmacology · 2026Review
- Article
- Effects of insecure attachment on fMRI resting state functional connectivity in poly drug use disorder.PloS one · 2025Observational
- The relationship between insecure attachment and nicotine dependence among users of classic cigarettes, e-cigarettes, and heated tobacco products: a moderated mediation model.Substance abuse treatment, prevention, and policy · 2024Article
- Gut Microbiome-Mediated Mechanisms in Alleviating Opioid Addiction with Aqueous Extract ofBiomedicines · 2024Article
- STAT: schema therapy for addiction treatment, a proposal for the integrative treatment of addictive disorders.Frontiers in psychology · 2024Article
- Influence of anxious attachment on the relationship between primary emotions and substance-related addictive behaviors.Frontiers in public health · 2024Article
- Depression in adolescence and young adulthood: the difficulty to integrate motivational/emotional systems.Frontiers in psychology · 2024Review
40 more citing papers are in PubMed but not listed here.
Corrections and comments
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Authors and funding
2 authors at 2 institutions in 1 country.
Funding
Abstract
rationaleLove has long been referred to as an addiction in literature and poetry. Scientists have often made comparisons between social attachment processes and drug addiction, and it has been suggested that the two may share a common neurobiological mechanism. Brain systems that evolved to govern attachments between parents and children and between monogamous partners may be the targets of drugs of abuse and serve as the basis for addiction processes.
objectivesHere, we review research on drug addiction in parallel with research on social attachments, including parent-offspring attachments and social bonds between mating partners. This review focuses on the brain regions and neurochemicals with the greatest overlap between addiction and attachment and, in particular, the mesolimbic dopamine (DA) pathway.
resultsSignificant overlap exists between these two behavioral processes. In addition to conceptual overlap in symptomatology, there is a strong commonality between the two domains regarding the roles and sites of action of DA, opioids, and corticotropin-releasing factor. The neuropeptides oxytocin and vasopressin are hypothesized to integrate social information into attachment processes that is not present in drug addiction.
conclusionsSocial attachment may be understood as a behavioral addiction, whereby the subject becomes addicted to another individual and the cues that predict social reward. Understandings from both fields may enlighten future research on addiction and attachment processes.
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Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.