In Opioid Use Disorder, Craving Is a More Important Trigger Than Stress

Craving, stress, and negative mood are potentially important triggers for drug use and can impede progress during treatment. To learn more, researchers used ecological momentary assessments, which gather data in real time and can uncover the multiple complex influences on drug use and relapse in individuals with substance use disorders.

For up to 16 weeks, 182 individuals with opioid use disorder (OUD) and on opioid-agonist treatment carried smartphones on which they initiated entries at any time for stressful events (e.g., stressed, overwhelmed, or anxious feelings) or lapses to drug use (primarily, cocaine and opioids). They were also randomly prompted thrice daily to rate stress, opioid craving, cocaine craving, negative mood (fatigued, s…