Understanding How Opioids Affect the Experiential and Neural Signatures of Social Experiences

Description

The study is a randomized, placebo-controlled design with the opioid antagonist, oral naltrexone. Following random assignment, participants will take 50mg of naltrexone or placebo once a day for 7 days. On days 1 - 7, participants complete reports of their feelings of social connection and mood in order to assess more naturalistic feelings in response to opportunities for social connection outside of the laboratory setting. Additionally, at the end of each day, they complete a physical symptoms questionnaire. On the 7th day, participants will come to the SDSU MRI scanning facility to complete tasks designed to elicit feelings of social connection in the fMRI scanner. After the scan, feelings in response to the scanner tasks will be collected.

Conditions

Naltrexone, Placebo

Study Overview

Study Details

Study overview

The study is a randomized, placebo-controlled design with the opioid antagonist, oral naltrexone. Following random assignment, participants will take 50mg of naltrexone or placebo once a day for 7 days. On days 1 - 7, participants complete reports of their feelings of social connection and mood in order to assess more naturalistic feelings in response to opportunities for social connection outside of the laboratory setting. Additionally, at the end of each day, they complete a physical symptoms questionnaire. On the 7th day, participants will come to the SDSU MRI scanning facility to complete tasks designed to elicit feelings of social connection in the fMRI scanner. After the scan, feelings in response to the scanner tasks will be collected.

Understanding How Opioids Affect the Experiential and Neural Signatures of Social Experiences

Understanding How Opioids Affect the Experiential and Neural Signatures of Social Experiences

Condition
Naltrexone
Intervention / Treatment

-

Contacts and Locations

San Diego

San Diego State University, San Diego, California, United States, 92120

Participation Criteria

Researchers look for people who fit a certain description, called eligibility criteria. Some examples of these criteria are a person's general health condition or prior treatments.

For general information about clinical research, read Learn About Studies.

Eligibility Criteria

  • * good health
  • * English fluency
  • * willing to provide contact information for 4-6 close others
  • * willing to provide digital photographs of 2 close others
  • * own a smartphone
  • * presence of medical devices, implants, or other metal objects in or on the body that cannot be removed
  • * tattooed eyeliner
  • * a body habitus prohibiting MRI scanning
  • * claustrophobia
  • * self-reported chronic mental or physical illness
  • * current and regular use of prescription medication
  • * previous history of having difficulty taking pills
  • * current use of opioid analgesics
  • * depressive symptoms above a 9 on Patient Health Questionnaire
  • * excessive alcohol use
  • * positive urine drug test
  • * body mass index (BMI) greater than 35
  • * pregnancy or plans to become pregnant in next 6 months
  • * positive urine pregnancy test

Ages Eligible for Study

18 Years to 25 Years

Sexes Eligible for Study

ALL

Accepts Healthy Volunteers

Yes

Collaborators and Investigators

San Diego State University,

Tristen Inagaki, PhD, PRINCIPAL_INVESTIGATOR, San Diego State University

Study Record Dates

2026-07