Mental health and drug use severity: the role of substance P, neuropeptide Y, self-reported childhood history of trauma, parental bonding and current resiliency

Abstract

Background

Many risk factors lead to opioid use and drug-related problems. One of the challenges to understand behavioural factors, drug problems and psychopathology is to identify biological markers that are suitable for research on broad substance abuse and dependence involving human participants.

Aims

The study has examined the relationships between the self-reported childhood history of trauma, parental bonding, psychopathology, impulsivity, current resiliency, two neuropeptides, possible markers of behaviour and emotion regulation, and severity of drug-related problems.

Methods

One hundred and sixty-seven individuals with a history of opioid use completed questionnaires. Serum neuropeptide Y (NPY) and substance P (SP) levels were analysed. Moderating and mediating relationships between variables were examined using structural equation modelling (SEM).

Results

Antisocial features, depression, impulsivity, SP, NPY, emotional neglect and resilience are associated with severity of drug-related problems. SP is associated with antisocial personality traits.

Conclusions

The novelty of this study is the proposed possible link between biochemical markers, antisocial features and behavioural and emotional regulation. Serum NPY and SP levels have a potential to be used as a biomarker in opioid users before and in the treatment process to account for interactions between biological vulnerabilities and childhood risk factors in predicting behavioural adjustment and more severe drug-related problems.

Keywords:

• Psychopathology
• drug use
• substance P
• neuropeptide Y
• depression
• co-morbidity

Compliance with ethical standards

All procedures followed were in accordance with the ethical standards of the responsible committee on human experimentation (institutional and national) and with the Helsinki Declaration of 1975, as revised in 2000.

Disclosure statement

The authors declared no potential conflicts of interests with respect to the research, authorship and/or publication of the article.

Additional information

Funding

The study was funded by the European Regional Development Fund, Cross-Border Cooperation Programme INTERREG V-A Slovenia – Croatia 2014–2020 (EU strategic project CLOUD).