NERVOUSNESS AND PAIN SENSITIVITY - II - CHANGED RELATION IN EX-ADDICTS AS A PREDICTOR FOR EARLY RELAPSE

We recently demonstrated a coupling between nervousness and pain sensi tivity in healthy volunteers, and we defined a mean ratio of nervousne ss/log pain threshold of 1.95 +/- 1.47 for healthy humans. Because in another study former opiate addicts were found to exhibit a persistent opioid independent analgesia, we wondered whether nervousness is also changed in these patients, or if the balance between nervousness and pain sensitivity is altered. Forty unmedicated former opiate addicts d uring long-term rehabilitation and 40 age-matched control subjects wer e included in the study. The subjects rated their nervousness prior to a cold presser test on a Visual Analog Scale. It turned out that the average nervousness rating was higher than in the control subjects and that a distinct subgroup of pain sensitive ex-addicts exhibited a hig her ratio of nervousness vs. pain threshold. In this group the risk fo r relapse was three to four times higher than in the other ex-addicts, (C) 1998 Elsevier Science Ireland Ltd. All rights reserved.