Pain and Responses to Opioids After Childhood Trauma (PROACT)
Research type
Research Study
Full title
A study to assess whether childhood trauma is associated with increased sensitivity to pain, and are also less sensitive to the acute negative effects of opioid agonists.
IRAS ID
240232
Contact name
Celia Morgan
Contact email
Sponsor organisation
The University of Exeter
Duration of Study in the UK
2 years, 0 months, 1 days
Research summary
The current project is looking at how people with different experiences in childhood will respond to morphine. We are looking at this because past experiences of childhood trauma can affect how the brain develops: specifically, it can interfere with the development of the natural opioid system. This system is important for processing pain, and emotional soothing. However, disruptions to this system in childhood could lead these individuals to have a heightened sensitivity to pain, and also respond differently to opioid drugs like morphine (being less sensitive to the negative acute effects). These differences may explain why these individuals may be at higher risk of developing chronic pain, or addiction; both of which are chronic, complex, and have poor responses to therapy. It is crucial to understand a mechanism of how childhood trauma could render someone vulnerable to these disorders, in order to search for new effective treatments. Furthermore, opioids are prescribed for the treatment of chronic pain; however, some of individuals may be more vulnerable to becoming psychologically dependent to these drugs than others. The current study wishes to investigate whether physical pain can derive from psychological pain (trauma), and whether this may render individuals vulnerable to problematic morphine use. We further hope this project can help prevent problems surrounding morphine use by understanding how differences in experiences in childhood can affect how people respond to morphine.
We are looking to recruit healthy individuals either with or without histories of childhood trauma. The study will involve attending one, 5.5 hour session at the Clinical Research Facility in the Royal Devon and Exeter Hospital. Participants will receive one 0.15mg/kg dose of morphine. Participants will be asked to do some questionnaires, computer tasks, and pain threshold assessments. We will also take blood samples from to look at plasma levels of opioids.
REC name
Wales REC 4
REC reference
18/WA/0098
Date of REC Opinion
6 Apr 2018
REC opinion
Further Information Favourable Opinion