Table 2.
Subjective, behavioral, physiological, and brain-based findings of negative reinforcement in methamphetamine users.
| Author (first author, year) | Meth Group (N) | Comparison Group (N) | Abstinence Duration (Days) | Meth Chronicity [M(SD)] | Comorbid Diagnoses | Gender Examined? | Methods | NR Variables | Results ↑↓ |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Self-Report findings | |||||||||
| Newton et al. (24) | 73 non-treatment seeking, current users | None | N/A | 10.6(8.2) yrs | No Axis I psychiatric disorders, no dependence on drugs other than MA or nicotine | No | Self-report questionnaires | Reasons for taking drugs | 23% of respondents reported negative reinforcement reasons for substance use |
| Tayyebi et al. (25) | 40 | 40 narcotics users, 40 CTL | N/R | N/R | N/R | No | Self-report questionnaires | Self-regulation, affective control | MA< narcotics users & CTL: self-regulation and affective control |
| Behavioral and Physiological Findings | |||||||||
| Chen et al. (26) | 60 | 30 | 4.85(1.12) months | 33.12(24.99) months | N/R | Yes; no sig. diff. found | Startle response measured by skin conductance | Self-report emotional response, startle response, skin conductance | MA: ↑ emotional response to anger-eliciting videos, ↓ emotional response to joy-eliciting videos |
| Henry et al. (27) | 12 | 12 | 5.9(1.41) months | 3.9(2.16) yrs | N/R | No | Facial affect recognition task | Ability to identify emotions | MA: ↓ facial affect recognition |
| Kim et al. (28) | 28 | 27 | 19.46(7.86) days | 13.93(7.76) yrs | N/R | No | Facial affect recognition task | Ability to identify emotions | MA: ↓ facial affect recognition |
| Zhong et al. (29) | 54 | 58 | 44.85(20.65) days | 4.14(3.42) yrs | 75.9% of MA reported history of psychiatric symptoms | No | Baseline, 3-and 6-months abstinent | Ability to identify emotions | MA: ↓ social emotional cognition at baseline but improvement after 6-months abstinence |
| Sex-Specific Findings | |||||||||
| Chen et al. (30) | 30 females | 30 females | 8.68(3.64) months | 35.23(22.41) months | N/R | No; females only | Cross-sectional | Startle response & self-reported arousal & valence of emotional music stimuli; | Startle, MA<CTL for fearful stimuli; Self-report arousal: MA<CTL for fearful and happy stimuli; Self-report valence: MA>CTL for fearful stimuli |
| Hartwell et al. (31) | 203 | None | 1.6(3.6) days | N/R | 5.4% current MDD | Yes | One-time self-report assessment | Dep. & Anx. symptoms, craving | Within males only: Positive corr. b/w Dep. symptoms & craving, Positive corr. b/w Anx. symptoms and craving |
| Maxwell et al. (32) | 222 | None | N/R | N/R | N/R | Yes | One-time self-report assessment | Motivations for MA use | Female > male: using MA to “not feel depressed” |
| Mehrjerdi et al. (33) | 80 | 80 | N/R | 5(6.1) yrs of dependence, years of use not reported | N/R | No; females only | Cross-sectional | Coping strategies | MA<CTL: seeking social support, cognitive evaluation, problem-solving; MA>CTL: emotion control, physical control |
| Shen et al. (34) | 113 females | None | 8.7(4.8) months of detoxification | 2.0(1.4) years | Dep. & Anx. symptoms | Yes; females only | Self-reports every 3 months for 1-3 yrs while undergoing detoxification program | Mood symptoms, craving | Positive correlation between craving and 5 aspects of negative mood disturbance (fatigue, bewilderment, anxiety, depression, and hostility) |
| Simpson et al. (35) | 124 | None | N/R | N/R | Current psychiatric disorder in 53.2% females and 27.4% males | Yes | One-time self-report assessment | Psychiatric symptoms, perceived stress, coping strategies, | Female > male, childhood emotional and sexual trauma, psychiatric and drug problems, poorer treatment outcomes, current psychiatric disorder |
| Brain-Based Findings | |||||||||
| Berman et al. (36) | 10 | 12 | T1: 6.7(1.6) days T2: 27.6(.96) days | 8.89(4.2) years | Dep. symptoms | No | PET, glucose metabolism | Dep. symptoms | MA>CTL: change in global GM; Within MA: ↑ GM in parietal regions, dep. symptoms neg. corr. w/ parietal GM |
| Bischoff-Grethe et al. (37) | 17 | 23 | 173(160) days | N/R | No other substance abuse/dependence besides meth, nicotine, cannabis, alcohol | No | Cross-sectional, fMRI | Monetary loss | Loss anticipation – MA<CTL: VS, posterior caudate; MA only: loss>gains in anterior & posterior caudate |
| Dean et al. (38) | 15 | None | 7.5(2.6) days | 7.80(4.89) years | No Axis I diagnoses other than MA and nicotine dependence | No | RSFMRI within MA only | Dep. & anx. symptoms, ER | Within MA: amygdala-hippocampus RSFC pos. corr. w/ childhood maltreatment, dep., anx., ER & neg. correlated with self-compassion, mindfulness |
| Kim et al. (39) | 19 | 19 | 20.5(8.3) days | 13.6(7.3) years | None | No; males only | Cross-sectional, fMRI | Empathy task | MA<CTL: OFC, hippocampus, mean % correct answers on empathy task; MA>CTL: DLPFC |
| Kim et al. (40) | 19 | 19 | 20.5(8.3) days | 13.6(7.3) years | None | No; males only | Cross-sectional, fMRI | Emotion-matching task | MA<CTL: DLPFC, Insula; MA>CTL: fusiform gyrus, hippocampus, parahippocampal gyrus, posterior cingulate cortex |
| London et al. (41) | 17 | 18 | 4-7 days | 10.1(1.3) years | Dep. symptoms | No | PET, glucose metabolism | Dep. & anx. symptoms | MA>CTL: Dep. & anx. symptoms, GM in OFC, posterior cingulate, amygdala, ventral striatum, cerebellum; MA<CTL: GM in ACC, insula; Within MA only: Dep. symptoms pos. corr. w/ GM in amygdala & anterior cingulate gyrus, State/trait anx. neg. corr. w/GM in ACC & Insula |
| Okita et al. (42) | 94 (27 PET) | 102 (20 PET) | Among PET: 4.0(2.59) days | N/R | N/R | No | PET, dopamine | Emotion Regulation | MA>CTL: DERS total score; Across groups: DERS total score pos. corr. w/ amygdala D2-type receptor availability; MA only: DERS + corr. w/addiction severity |
| Okita et al. (43) | 23 | 17 | ≥7.2(3.11) days | 10.4(7.33) years | N/R | No | PET, dopamine | Alexithymia | MA>CTL: alexithymia; Within CTL: alexithymia; pos. corr. w/ D2-type receptor availability in ACC, Insula |
| Payer et al. (44) | 25 | 23 | 9.91(4.57) days | 11.4(7.8) | N/R | No | Cross-sectional, fMRI | Affect processing | MA<CTL: IFG during affect matching, Affect labeling – no group diff. |
| Payer et al. (45) | 12 | 12 | 8.6(3.5) days | N/R | N/R | No | Cross-sectional, fMRI | Affect matching task | MA<CTL: VLPFC, fusiform gyrus; MA>CTL: dACC; Contrast: emotion match>shape match |
| Payer et al. (46) | 53 | 47 | N/R | 11.0(7.7) | None | No | Cross-sectional, fMRI | Emotional faces viewing task | MA<CTL: VLPFC, DLPFC; MA>CTL: self-reported aggression |
| Sekine et al. (47) | 11 | 9 | 7 days-1.5 years | 1 month-15 years | Anxiety, depression, hallucinations | No, males only | PET, dopamine | Psychiatric symptoms | MA<CTL: DTD in nACC, PFC, caudate; MA only: severity of psych. symptoms pos. corr. w/duration of use, ↓DTD in caudate/nACC, neg. corr. w/ duration of MA use |
| Sekine et al. (48) | 11 | 9 | 7 days-1.5 years | 1 month-15 years | Anxiety, depression, hallucinations | No, males only | PET, dopamine | Psychiatric symptoms | MA<CTL: DTD in OFC, DLPFC, amygdala; Within MA: DTD in OFC, DLPFC neg. corr. w/ duration meth use & severity of psych symptoms |
| Stewart et al. (49) | 20 | 22 | 45.47(19.76) | N/R | Comorbid alcohol (n=8), cocaine (n=2), cannabis (n=2), opiate (n=2) use disorders | No | Cross-sectional, fMRI | Loss and aversive interoceptive stimuli | MA>CTL: trait anxiety; MA<CTL; AI, IFG across trials, PI, ACC during aversive stimuli, ACC to punishment/loss & aversive stimuli |
| Stewart et al. (50) | 18 relapsed MA | 42 abstinent MA | 33.9 ± 20.1 days | Relapsed: 13.3(8.9): Abstinent: 13.7(10.0) | Comorbid alcohol, cocaine, marijuana, nicotine use | No | Cross-sectional fMRI & longitudinal SU data | Loss | Relapsed<Abstinent – across win, loss, tie: insula, striatum, thalamus, posterior cingulate, precuneus; across loss and tie: AI |
| Uhlmann et al. (51) | 21 | 19 MA-associated psychosis, 19 CTL | Median = 21 days, range 1-240 days | 5.6(2.3) years | No other lifetime or current dx of psychiatric disorder | Yes; within MA insula cortical thickness M>F | Cross-sectional, structural MRI | ER self-report | MA>CTL: entorhinal cortex, insula cortical thickness; MA<CTL: overall ER skills |
| Wei et al. (52) | 21 | 22 | 9.71(8.19) months | 27.14(13.79) months | N/R | No, females only | ERP | Monetary loss | MA>CTL: FRN for loss vs. gain |
| Yin et al. (53) | 26 | 26 | ≥ 24 h | Median=2.8 yrs | N/R | No | Cross-sectional, fMRI | Emotional faces vs. MA cue viewing task | MA cue images – MA>CTL: ACC; Emotional faces – MA<CTL: frontal lobe |
ACC, anterior cingulate cortex; AI, anterior insula; CTL, control; dACC, dorsal anterior cingulate cortex; DERS, Difficulties in Emotion Regulation Scale; DLPFC, dorsolateral prefrontal cortex; DTD, dopamine transporter density; ER, emotion regulation; FRN, feedback-related negativity; F, female; fMRI, functional magnetic resonance imaging; f/u, follow-up; GM, glucose metabolism; IFG, inferior frontal gyrus; M, male; MA, methamphetamine; MDD, major depressive disorder; nACC, nucleus accumbens; N/R, not reported; OFC, orbitofrontal cortex; PET, positron emission tomography; PFC, prefrontal cortex; PI, posterior insula; RSFC, resting state functional connectivity; SU, substance; T1, time 1; T2, time 2; VLPFC, ventral lateral prefrontal cortex; VS, ventral striatum.