Individuals with substance use disorders often report altered interoceptive awareness of internal bodily signals. However, it is unclear whether these alterations also extend to patients with chronic pain who misuse opioids, and whether interventions that enhance interoceptive awareness, such as mindfulness-based therapies, may reduce opioid misuse in this population. At baseline, participants...
Mindfulness training (MT) promotes the development of one's ability to observe and attend to internal and external experiences with objectivity and nonjudgment with evidence to improve psychological well-being. Real-time functional MRI neurofeedback (rtfMRI-nf) is a noninvasive method of modulating activity of a brain region or circuit. The posterior cingulate cortex (PCC) has been hypothesized...
Mindfulness training (MT) reduces self-referential processing and promotes interoception, the perception of sensations from inside the body, by increasing one's awareness of and regulating responses to them. The posterior cingulate cortex (PCC) and the insular cortex (INS) are considered hubs for self-referential processing and interoception, respectively. Although MT has been consistently...
The fatty acid amide hydrolase inhibitor URB 597 increases brain anandamide levels, suggesting that URB 597 could enhance the behavioural effects of anandamide. The goal of the current study was to examine and characterize the in vivo pharmacology of URB 597 alone and in combination with anandamide and Δ⁹-tetrahydrocannabinol (Δ⁹ -THC) in two drug discrimination assays in rhesus monkeys. The...
Marijuana-dependent individuals report using marijuana to alleviate withdrawal, suggesting that pharmacotherapy of marijuana withdrawal could promote abstinence. To identify potential pharmacotherapies for marijuana withdrawal, this study first characterized rimonabant-induced Delta(9)-tetrahydrocannabinol (Delta(9)-THC) withdrawal in rhesus monkeys by using drug discrimination and directly...