Abstract
Effect of the addictive history on the direction of the conditioned responses anticipatory to the effects of the heroin.- The object of this study was to examine the direction and intensity of the anticipatory conditioned responses of mimetic character (conditioned sensitivity) and of compensatory character (conditioned abstinence) to the analgesic and subjective effects of heroin. There were four different groups, 16 men in each: G1, nonaddicts; G2, occassional users; G3, non-detoxifed addicts; G4, detoxified addicts. The responses, heart rate (HR), electrodermal activity (EA), desire for heroin (DH), autoperception of abstinence symptoms (SAA), and subjective symptoms mimetic to those induced by heroin (SSM) were evaluated before and after the projection of two films, one with neutral stimuli, the other with heroin-related stimuli. Before the end of each film, an electric shock (ES), 4 mA in intensity and 2 seconds in duration, was administered. Compensatory conditioned responses to the effects of heroin were seen in G3 and G4, and mimetic responses in G2 (p<0.01). These results are discussed in the context of the environmental specificity model of anticipatory responses to the effects of heroin.
