Can induced moods trigger drug-related responses in opiate abuse patients?

This study investigated the ability of four hypnotically induced mood states (euphoria, depression, anxiety, and anger) to trigger craving and other drug-related conditioned responses in detoxified opiate abuse patients. Hypnotically induced depression produced significant increases in drug craving for opiates. Depression also tended to increase global self-ratings of opiate withdrawal. Other trends included increases in self-rated craving by induced anxiety and increases in withdrawal symptoms by induced anger. These results suggest that negative mood states, perhaps in the context of repeated attempts at self-medication, may become conditioned stimuli capable of triggering craving and other drug-related conditioned responses. The ability of depression to produce reliable effects in this particular patient group may reflect the high lifetime prevalence of depression diagnoses for this sample. The implications of these findings for therapeutic strategies are discussed.