Emotion dysregulation as a transdiagnostic mechanism of opioid misuse and suicidality among chronic pain patients

Chronic pain is a prevalent condition that causes functional impairment and emotional suffering. To allay pain-induced suffering, opioids are often prescribed for chronic pain management. Yet, chronic pain patients on opioid therapy are at heightened risk for opioid misuse-behaviors that can lead to...

Full description

Saved in:
Bibliographic Details
Published in:Borderline personality disorder and emotion dysregulation 2018-06, Vol.5 (1), p.11-11, Article 11
Main Authors: Riquino, Michael R, Priddy, Sarah E, Howard, Matthew O, Garland, Eric L
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Anhedonia
Attentional bias
Behavior
Borderline personality disorder
Chronic pain
Coping
Drug abuse
Emotion dysregulation
Emotions
Influence
Narcotics
Opioid abuse
Opioid misuse
Opioids
Overdose
Pain
Pain management
Prevention
Reinforcement
Review
Risk factors
Suicidal behavior
Suicidality
Suicides & suicide attempts
Citations: Items that this one cites
Items that cite this one
Online Access:Get full text
Tags: Add Tag
No Tags, Be the first to tag this record!
Description
Summary:Chronic pain is a prevalent condition that causes functional impairment and emotional suffering. To allay pain-induced suffering, opioids are often prescribed for chronic pain management. Yet, chronic pain patients on opioid therapy are at heightened risk for opioid misuse-behaviors that can lead to addiction and overdose. Relatedly, chronic pain patients are at elevated risk for suicidal ideation and suicidal behaviors. Opioid misuse and suicidality are maladaptive processes aimed at alleviating the negative emotional hyperreactivity, hedonic hyporeactivity, and emotion dysregulation experienced by chronic pain patients on opioid therapy. In this review, we explore the role of emotion dysregulation in chronic pain. We then describe why emotionally dysregulated chronic pain patients are vulnerable to opioid misuse and suicidality in response to these negative affective states. Emotion dysregulation is an important and malleable treatment target with the potential to reduce or prevent opioid misuse and suicidality among opioid-treated chronic pain patients.
ISSN:2051-6673
2051-6673
DOI:10.1186/s40479-018-0088-6