Social disequilibrium, or disrupted social homeostasis, underlies many behavioral disorders, including problematic drug use. One way to study the relationship between drug use and social homeostasis is to determine whether single doses of psychoactive drugs relieve some of the discomfort of social isolation and promote social connection. In this narrative review, we discuss challenges and opportunities in studying the relationship between psychoactive drugs and social homeostasis. Using the examples of opioids and amphetamines, we discuss the evidence that drugs alleviate dysphoria related to lack of social connection or produce prosocial effects that improve connection. With regard to opioid drugs, we report that mu opioid agonists and kappa opioid antagonists reduce distress from social isolation, and mu opioid agonists enhance social reward. Amphetamine-like stimulant drugs, including MDMA, do not seem to act by reducing the distress of social isolation, but they have notable prosocial effects that increase both motivation for social contact and the pleasure derived from interacting socially. Many questions remain in understanding interactions between drugs and social equilibrium, including whether these effects contribute to problematic drug use. We identify gaps in knowledge, including the effects of drug withdrawal or dependence on social function or the responses of individuals with psychiatric symptomatology. Understanding these actions on social processes will help to develop novel pharmacological treatments for clinical problems related to social disequilibrium.

中文翻译：

---

社会稳态和精神活性药物：我们可以从人类阿片类药物和苯丙胺药物挑战研究中学到什么？


社会失衡或社会稳态被破坏是许多行为障碍的基础，包括有问题的药物使用。研究药物使用与社会稳态之间关系的一种方法是确定单剂量的精神活性药物是否能缓解社会孤立的一些不适并促进社会联系。在这篇叙述性综述中，我们讨论了研究精神活性药物与社会稳态之间关系的挑战和机遇。使用阿片类药物和苯丙胺的例子，我们讨论了药物可以缓解与缺乏社会联系相关的烦躁不安或产生改善联系的亲社会效应的证据。关于阿片类药物，我们报道了 mu 阿片类激动剂和 kappa 阿片类拮抗剂可减轻社会孤立带来的痛苦，而 mu 阿片类激动剂可增强社会奖励。安非他明类兴奋剂药物，包括 MDMA，似乎不能减轻社交孤立的痛苦，但它们具有显着的亲社会作用，可以增加社交接触的动机和社交互动带来的乐趣。在理解药物与社会平衡之间的相互作用方面仍然存在许多问题，包括这些影响是否会导致有问题的药物使用。我们确定了知识差距，包括药物戒断或依赖对社会功能的影响或有精神症状的个体的反应。了解这些对社会过程的作用将有助于为与社会失衡相关的临床问题开发新的药物治疗。