ArticleSocial cognitive and affective neuroscience2021
The role of social isolation in opioid addiction.
Article in Social cognitive and affective neuroscience, 2021. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 52 papers, 1 of them a synthesis that pooled it.
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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.
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Who cites it
52 citing papers in PubMed, 1 synthesis or guideline pooled it, 87 citations in OpenAlex.
- Barriers and facilitators to detoxification from opioid substitution treatment: A mixed-methods systematic review.Addiction (Abingdon, England) · 2026Pooled it
- Disclosing Recovery: A pilot randomized controlled trial of a patient decision aid to improve disclosure processes for people in treatment for opioid use disorder.Journal of substance use and addiction treatment · 2024Trial
- Spontaneous oxycodone withdrawal alters behavior and oligodendrocyte-related gene expression in mice.Pharmacology, biochemistry, and behavior · 2026Article
- Loneliness and social isolation as predictors of pain medication use transitions in older adults.Scientific reports · 2026Article
- Non-death losses experienced by Black adults who use opioids.Journal of loss & trauma · 2026Article
- Methamphetamine-Fentanyl Polysubstance Administration Produces Social Deficits and Corticolimbic Stress-Reward Circuit Adaptations.Research square · 2026Article
- Predicting Substance Use in Young Adults: The Role of Childhood Adversity.Medicina (Kaunas, Lithuania) · 2026Article
- Article
- Perceived Relapse Risks Associated With Emotionally Impactful Events: Connection Counts More.Journal of studies on alcohol and drugs · 2026Article
- Fentanyl, Methamphetamine and Polysubstance Use Differentially Affect Locomotor Sensitisation and Social Behaviour in Rats: Psychedelic Treatment Reverses Social Deficits.Addiction biology · 2026Article
- Sex, gender, and sociodemographic factors associated with repeated prescription refills in chronic pain: insights from a prescription claims cohort study.Frontiers in pain research (Lausanne, Switzerland) · 2026Article
- Community place attachment as a significant correlate of motivation to change substance use behavior among adults who inject drugs in rural U.S.Frontiers in public health · 2026Article
- Review
- Substance use stigma reduces trust and informational support: experimental evidence across risk and relationship contexts.Harm reduction journal · 2025Article
- Burden of opioid use disorder in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA): findings from Global Burden of Disease (GBD) study.Journal of health, population, and nutrition · 2025Article
- Precautionary Principle and Post-Mortem Brain Resuscitation.Neuroethics · 2025Article
- Prefrontal cortex excitatory neurons show distinct response to heroin-associated cue and social stimulus after prolonged heroin abstinence in mice.Neuropsychopharmacology : official publication of the American College of Neuropsychopharmacology · 2025Article
- A taxonomy of social support interventions for People experiencing a syndemic of substance use disorder, criminal legal involvement, and downstream Health sequelae.SSM. Mental health · 2025Article
- Persistent Opioid Use Following Major Orthopedic Surgery.Current pain and headache reports · 2025Review
- Perceived Social Isolation and Fentanyl Use Among Adults Who Inject Drugs in Rural Kentucky.Social work in public health · 2025Article
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
1 author at 1 institution in 1 country.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
Humans are social animals: social isolation hurts people both psychologically and physically. Strong, positive social bonds help people to live longer and healthier lives compared with their more isolated peers. Opioid use disorder is associated with feelings of social isolation, an increased risk of suicide and, at the community level, lower social capital. I propose a psychobiological mechanistic explanation that contributes to the association between opioid use and social isolation. The endogenous opioid system plays a central role in the formation and maintenance of social bonds across the life span and has been investigated primarily through the framework of the brain opioid theory of social attachment. In primates, maternal-infant bonding and social play are both impaired by the administration of naltrexone (an opioid antagonist), and in humans, the chronic use of opioids appears to be particularly (relative to other drugs) corrosive to close relationships. Social isolation may play a role in the development and exacerbation of opioid use disorder. Taken together, work on the brain's opioid system suggests a possible mechanistic basis for bidirectional causal links between social isolation and opioid use disorder. Evaluation of this hypothesis would benefit from longitudinal psychosocial and neuropsychopharmacological investigations.
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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.