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Compared with the brains of healthy people, the brains of people with opioid dependence didn’t produce strong responses to the cute baby pictures. But once the opioid-dependent people received a drug callednaltrexone, which blocks the effects of opioids, their brains produced a more normal response.
“When the participants were given an opioid blocker, their baby schema became more similar to that of healthy people,” said Dr. Daniel D. Langleben, one of the researchers. “The data also raised in question whether opioid medications may affect social cognition in general.”
The study, among the first to look at the effects of opioid dependence and how its treatment affects social cognition, was presented last month at the European College of Neuropsychopharmacology Congress in Vienna. While the study was small, addiction researchers say it provides insights into the parenting behavior of addicts.