TY - JOUR
T1 - Intact and Impaired Mentalization and Its Relation to Empathy and Pain — a Cross-sectional Study of Patients with Opioid Use Disorder Receiving Methadone Maintenance Treatment
AU - Zorani, Shlomit
AU - Peles, Einat
N1 - Publisher Copyright:
© The Author(s), under exclusive licence to Springer Science+Business Media, LLC, part of Springer Nature 2022. Springer Nature or its licensor holds exclusive rights to this article under a publishing agreement with the author(s) or other rightsholder(s); author self-archiving of the accepted manuscript version of this article is solely governed by the terms of such publishing agreement and applicable law.
PY - 2024/6
Y1 - 2024/6
N2 - We assessed the prevalence of normal theory of mind (ToM) in opioid use disorder patients receiving methadone maintenance treatment (MMT) and how it relates to chronic pain, pain empathy (PE), and pain sensitivity. A cross-sectional sample of 107 MMT patients were studied using ToM (Reading the Mind in the Eyes [RMET]), empathy (Interpersonal Reactivity Index [IRI]), Empathy Quotient Scale for Adults [EQ60]), and Pain Empathy [PE task]). Pain threshold and supra-threshold were measured using visual analog scale response to algometer’s pressure. Catastrophizing and Montreal Cognitive Assessment (MoCA) questionnaires were administered, and drug use was monitored in urine drug screens. Normal ToM (RMET ≥ 22) prevalence was 27% of patients who were characterized by being younger, having higher cognitive, empathy, and pain empathy scores, and fewer substances in urine drug screens. They experienced less catastrophizing, and yet additional pain components were comparable. MMT patients with normal ToM showed high empathy, but were not dependent on pain variables which differed from previous reports by healthy subjects.
AB - We assessed the prevalence of normal theory of mind (ToM) in opioid use disorder patients receiving methadone maintenance treatment (MMT) and how it relates to chronic pain, pain empathy (PE), and pain sensitivity. A cross-sectional sample of 107 MMT patients were studied using ToM (Reading the Mind in the Eyes [RMET]), empathy (Interpersonal Reactivity Index [IRI]), Empathy Quotient Scale for Adults [EQ60]), and Pain Empathy [PE task]). Pain threshold and supra-threshold were measured using visual analog scale response to algometer’s pressure. Catastrophizing and Montreal Cognitive Assessment (MoCA) questionnaires were administered, and drug use was monitored in urine drug screens. Normal ToM (RMET ≥ 22) prevalence was 27% of patients who were characterized by being younger, having higher cognitive, empathy, and pain empathy scores, and fewer substances in urine drug screens. They experienced less catastrophizing, and yet additional pain components were comparable. MMT patients with normal ToM showed high empathy, but were not dependent on pain variables which differed from previous reports by healthy subjects.
KW - Methadone maintenance treatment (MMT)
KW - Opioid use disorder
KW - Pain empathy (PE)
KW - Pain pressure threshold (PPT) test
KW - Supra-pain rating
KW - Theory of mind (ToM)
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85139478608&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1007/s11469-022-00927-6
DO - 10.1007/s11469-022-00927-6
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AN - SCOPUS:85139478608
SN - 1557-1874
VL - 22
SP - 1299
EP - 1314
JO - International Journal of Mental Health and Addiction
JF - International Journal of Mental Health and Addiction
IS - 3
ER -
