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Relaxation Training And Opioid Inhibition Of Blood Pressure Response To Stress, James Mccubbin, John Wilson, Stephen Bruehl, Paloma Ibarra, Charles Carlson, Jane Norton, George Colclough Jul 2014

Relaxation Training And Opioid Inhibition Of Blood Pressure Response To Stress, James Mccubbin, John Wilson, Stephen Bruehl, Paloma Ibarra, Charles Carlson, Jane Norton, George Colclough

James A. McCubbin

The present study was designed to determine the role of endogenous opioid mechanisms in the circulatory effects of relaxation training. Opioid mechanisms were assessed by examination of the effects of opioid receptor blockade with naltrexone on acute cardiovascular reactivity to laboratory stress before and after relaxation training. 32 young men with mildly elevated casual arterial pressure were recruited for placebo-controlled naltrexone stress tests and relaxation training. The results indicated that relaxation training significantly reduced the diastolic pressure response to mental arithmetic stress. Opioid receptor blockade with naltrexone antagonized the effects of relaxation training. These findings suggest that some of the …


Psychological Coping With Acute Pain: An Examination Of The Role Of Endogenous Opioid Mechanisms, Stephen Bruehl, Charles Carlson, John Wilson, Jane Norton, George Colclough, Marianne Brady, Jeffrey Sherman, James Mccubbin Jul 2014

Psychological Coping With Acute Pain: An Examination Of The Role Of Endogenous Opioid Mechanisms, Stephen Bruehl, Charles Carlson, John Wilson, Jane Norton, George Colclough, Marianne Brady, Jeffrey Sherman, James Mccubbin

James A. McCubbin

This study examined the relationship among endogenous opioids, Monitoring and Blunting coping styles, and acute pain responses. Fifty-eight male subjects underwent a 1-min pressure pain stimulus during two laboratory sessions. Subjects experienced this pain stimulus once under endogenous opioid blockade with naltrexone and once in a placebo condition. Blunting was found to be negatively correlated with pain ratings, but this relationship was significantly more prominent under opioid blockade. Results for coping behaviors subjects used to manage the experimental pain were generally consistent with the Blunting results, indicating that cognitive coping was related more strongly to decreased pain ratings and cardiovascular …


The Psychobiology Of Hostility: Possible Endogenous Opioid Mechanisms, Stephen Bruehl, James Mccubbin, Charles Carlson, John Wilson, Jane Norton, George Colclough, Marianne Brady, Jeffrey Sherman Jul 2014

The Psychobiology Of Hostility: Possible Endogenous Opioid Mechanisms, Stephen Bruehl, James Mccubbin, Charles Carlson, John Wilson, Jane Norton, George Colclough, Marianne Brady, Jeffrey Sherman

James A. McCubbin

This study examined the role of endogenous opioids in the relation between hostility and cardiovascular stress responsiveness. Forty-six mencompleted the Cook-Medley Hostility Scale, and experienced a laboratory pain stressor once under opioid blockade and once under placebo. Hostility scores were significantly related to the magnitude of change in cardiovascular reactivity/recovery resulting from opioid blockade. Low scorers on the Cynicism subscalc displayed increases in heart rate (HR) reactivity under blockade relative to placebo, with reactivity decreases noted in high scorers. Low Hostile Affect scores were similarly associated with impaired diastolic blood pressure recovery under opioid blockade. HR recovery results were somewhat …