ReviewBritish journal of pharmacology2018
Opioid system and human emotions.
Review in British journal of pharmacology, 2018. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 84 papers, 2 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
84 citing papers in PubMed, 2 syntheses or guidelines pooled it, 172 citations in OpenAlex.
- Nitrous oxide for the treatment of depression: a systematic review and meta-analysis.EBioMedicine · 2025Pooled it
- How to measure mental pain: a systematic review assessing measures of mental pain.Evidence-based mental health · 2022Pooled it
- Seeing the bigger picture: endogenous opioids mediate attentional broadening after reward receipt.Psychological medicine · 2025Trial
- Cortisol and β-Endorphin Responses During a Two-Month Exercise Training Program in Patients with an Opioid Use Disorder and on a Substitution Treatment.International journal of molecular sciences · 2025Trial
- Facial mimicry is not modulated by dopamine D2/3 and opioid receptor antagonism.Psychopharmacology · 2023Trial
- Intranasal naloxone rapidly occupies brain mu-opioid receptors in human subjects.Neuropsychopharmacology : official publication of the American College of Neuropsychopharmacology · 2019Trial
- Using ecological momentary assessment to examine the relationship between craving and affect with opioid use in a clinical trial of clonidine as an adjunct medication to buprenorphine treatment.The American journal of drug and alcohol abuse · 2018Trial
- Expressing emotions through music.Philosophical transactions of the Royal Society of London. Series B, Biological sciences · 2026Review
- Trauma Profiles and Cocaine Use Among Formerly Incarcerated Black Men Who Co-Use Opioids and Stimulants.The Journal of black psychology · 2026Article
- Endogenous opioid system modulates proximal and distal threat signals in the human brain.Molecular psychiatry · 2026Article
- Pain Outcome Determines the Sensitivity to Peripheral Opioid Antagonism of Morphine, Ibuprofen, and Their Combination in Laparotomized Mice.Pharmaceutics · 2026Article
- Aberrant type 2 dopamine and mu-opioid receptor availability in autism spectrum disorder.European journal of nuclear medicine and molecular imaging · 2026Article
- Exercise modulates food reward: neurobiological mechanisms and implications for weight management.Frontiers in nutrition · 2026Review
- Review
- Updated Freudian drive theory: childhood trauma, epigenetics, serotonin and beta endorphin.Frontiers in psychiatry · 2026Article
- Managing Opioid Tolerance: Balancing Pain Relief and Tackling Addiction.Current drug safety · 2026Article
- Reframing "flat affect" and withdrawal in severe mental illness: a within-subject, culture- and medication-sensitive heuristic for social psychiatry.Frontiers in psychiatry · 2026Article
- Article
- Trauma, personality structure and psychopathology: a cartography of psychodynamic constructs.Borderline personality disorder and emotion dysregulation · 2025Article
- Pleasurable music activates cerebral µ-opioid receptors: a combined PET-fMRI study.European journal of nuclear medicine and molecular imaging · 2025Article
24 more citing papers are in PubMed but not listed here.
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
2 authors at 2 institutions in 2 countries.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
Emotions are states of vigilant readiness that guide human and animal behaviour during survival-salient situations. Categorical models of emotions posit neurally and physiologically distinct basic human emotions (anger, fear, disgust, happiness, sadness and surprise) that govern different survival functions. Opioid receptors are expressed abundantly in the mammalian emotion circuit, and the opioid system modulates a variety of functions related to arousal and motivation. Yet, its specific contribution to different basic emotions has remained poorly understood. Here, we review how the endogenous opioid system and particularly the μ receptor contribute to emotional processing in humans. Activation of the endogenous opioid system is consistently associated with both pleasant and unpleasant emotions. In general, exogenous opioid agonists facilitate approach-oriented emotions (anger, pleasure) and inhibit avoidance-oriented emotions (fear, sadness). Opioids also modulate social bonding and affiliative behaviour, and prolonged opioid abuse may render both social bonding and emotion recognition circuits dysfunctional. However, there is no clear evidence that the opioid system is able to affect the emotions associated with surprise and disgust. Taken together, the opioid systems contribute to a wide array of positive and negative emotions through their general ability to modulate the approach versus avoidance motivation associated with specific emotions. Because of the protective effects of opioid system-mediated prosociality and positive mood, the opioid system may constitute an important factor contributing to psychological and psychosomatic resilience. LINKED ARTICLES: This article is part of a themed section on Emerging Areas of Opioid Pharmacology. To view the other articles in this section visit http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/bph.v175.14/issuetoc.
Indexed as
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What OpenQuestion holds
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.