The Opioid Effect on Social Life themindguild.com/opioid-effect-social-life September 18, 2017
Have you ever considered the opioid effect on social life in America? When you consider that painkiller prescriptions have tripled nationwide, it is easy to understand how opioids are viewed upon as the villain. Sadly, we have seen policy makers and research pay much less attention to the social losses that our nation has suffered. Emotional pains such as flat wages and the destruction of ties with others have boosted the emotional pain of this drug epidemic. More and more studies are beginning to realize that the social ramifications of opioid addiction must be explored more thoroughly if communities truly want to resolve this problem. A recent study discovered that for each 1 percent rise in the U.S. unemployment, the death rates for opioid overdoses went up by almost 4 percent.
Opioid Deaths Keep Increasing The sad news is that drug overdoses have become America’s top cause of deaths for those who are in the prime of their life. Studies have also shown that alcohol and suicide related deaths have risen as well. These rises in death rates have been most prominent in regions suffering most from economic distress. Experts state that it will be difficult to resolve the addiction and overdose problems without enhanced understanding of the neurobiology that links opioids and social connectivity. The notion of relating opioids to social stress is not exactly a new approach. Decades ago, a neuroscientist named Jaak Panksepp first recognized the accepted hypothesis that the human body’s natural opioids—endorphins and the like—are vital to bonds that nurture the connection between parents and children. Panksepp’s studies indicated that when an opioid system is blocked in the brain, the distress calls are increased from the broken connection. This is comparable to infants being separated from their mothers. When someone takes an opioid drug, these cries are reduced.
Striking Bond Between Opioid Use and Maternal Bonds 1/2