ArticleSocial neuroscience2016
Naltrexone alters the processing of social and emotional stimuli in healthy adults.
Article in Social neuroscience, 2016. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. It is linked to trial NCT05685225 (Safety and Efficacy of Naltrexone/Acetaminophen for the Acute Treatment of Migraine), which is not on this map. Cited by 23 papers, 1 of them a synthesis 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.
Safety and Efficacy of Naltrexone/Acetaminophen for the Acute Treatment of Migraine: A Single-Site, Phase 2 Randomized Trial
Who cites it
23 citing papers in PubMed, 1 synthesis or guideline pooled it, 54 citations in OpenAlex.
- Endogenous mu-opioid modulation of social connection in humans: a systematic review and meta-analysis.Translational psychiatry · 2024Pooled it
- Shared effects of the opioid antagonist naltrexone on first-hand and empathic pain.Social cognitive and affective neuroscience · 2026Trial
- Suicidal ideation in adults with opioid use disorder treated with buprenorphine-naloxone versus extended-release naltrexone.The American journal of drug and alcohol abuse · 2025Trial
- Facial mimicry is not modulated by dopamine D2/3 and opioid receptor antagonism.Psychopharmacology · 2023Trial
- Anxiety, Depression, and Insomnia Among Adults With Opioid Dependence Treated With Extended-Release Naltrexone vs Buprenorphine-Naloxone: A Randomized Clinical Trial and Follow-up Study.JAMA psychiatry · 2019Trial
- Accounting for the uncounted: Physical and affective distress in individuals dropping out of oral naltrexone treatment for opioid use disorder.Drug and alcohol dependence · 2018Trial
- Effects of opioid- and non-opioid analgesics on responses to psychosocial stress in humans.Hormones and behavior · 2018Trial
- Effects of naltrexone are influenced by childhood adversity during negative emotional processing in addiction recovery.Translational psychiatry · 2017Trial
- Unusual experiences and early-onset psychosis associated to hallucinogen use in adolescents: a systematic review and meta-analysis.Child and adolescent psychiatry and mental health · 2026Review
- Naltrexone dose-selectively modulates goal-directed behavior and the hypothalamic proteome in rats.Pharmacological reports : PR · 2025Article
- Mu-opioid receptor system modulates responses to vocal bonding and distress signals in humans.Philosophical transactions of the Royal Society of London. Series B, Biological sciences · 2022Article
- Pharmacological investigations of effort-based decision-making in humans: Naltrexone and nicotine.PloS one · 2022Article
- Pharmacological fMRI provides evidence for opioidergic modulation of discrimination of facial pain expressions.Psychophysiology · 2021Article
- Understanding the Neurocomputational Mechanisms of Antidepressant Placebo Effects.Journal of psychiatry and brain science · 2021Article
- Suicide Risk and Addiction: The Impact of Alcohol and Opioid Use Disorders.Current addiction reports · 2021Review
- The Role of Mu-Opioids for Reward and Threat Processing in Humans: Bridging the Gap from Preclinical to Clinical Opioid Drug Studies.Current addiction reports · 2021Review
- Translational approach to understanding momentary factors associated with alcohol consumption.British journal of pharmacology · 2020Review
- The role of the opioid system in decision making and cognitive control: A review.Cognitive, affective & behavioral neuroscience · 2019Review
- Opioid system and human emotions.British journal of pharmacology · 2018Review
- Considering the context: social factors in responses to drugs in humans.Psychopharmacology · 2018Review
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
3 authors at 2 institutions in 1 country.
Funding
Abstract
Endogenous opioids have complex social effects that may depend on specific receptor actions and vary depending on the "stage" of social behavior (e.g., seeking vs. responding to social stimuli). We tested the effects of a nonspecific opioid antagonist, naltrexone (NTX), on social processing in humans. NTX is used to treat alcohol and opiate dependence, and may affect both mu and kappa-opioid systems. We assessed attention ("seeking"), and subjective and psychophysiological responses ("responding") to positive and negative social stimuli. Based on literature suggesting mu-opioid blockade impairs positive social responses, we hypothesized that NTX would decrease responses to positive social stimuli. We also tested responses to negative stimuli, which might be either increased by NTX's mu-opioid effects or decreased by its kappa-opioid effects. Thirty-four healthy volunteers received placebo, 25 mg, or 50 mg NTX across three sessions under double-blind conditions. At each session, participants completed measures of attention, identification, and emotional responses for emotional faces and scenes. NTX increased attention to emotional expressions, slowed identification of sadness and fear, and decreased ratings of arousal for social and nonsocial emotional scenes. These findings are more consistent with anxiolytic kappa-antagonist than mu-blocking effects, suggesting effects on kappa receptors may contribute to the clinical effects of NTX.
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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.