'Cold Turkey' Withdrawal Method Triggers Mental Decline, Study

As some may chose the 'cold turkey' approach to kicking a habit, research shows that when quitting drugs, this withdrawal method can often trigger mental decline.

In fact, according to researchers from Georgetown University Medical Center, their observations suggest that managing morphine withdrawal can help promote a healthier mental state in people.

"Over time, drug-abusing individuals often develop mental disorders," Italo Mocchetti, PhD, a professor of neuroscience said, via a press release. "It's been thought that drug abuse itself contributes to mental decline, but our findings suggest that 'quitting cold turkey' can also lead to damage."

Moscchetti and researchers looked at animals who were injected with morphine or allowed to undergo withdrawal by stopping the treatment. They then measured pro-inflammatory cytokines, in which they promoted damage and cell death via the protein CCL5 that has various protective effects in the brain.

"Interestingly, we found that treating the addicted animals with morphine both increased the protective CCL5 protein while decreasing pro-inflammatory cytokines, suggesting a beneficial effect," Mocchetti explains. The animals that weren't treated during withdrawal had the opposite results - decreased CCL5 and increased levels of the damaging cytokines. "From these findings, it appears that morphine withdrawal may be a causative factor that leads to mental decline, presenting an important avenue for research in how we can better help people who are trying to quit using drugs."

More information regarding the study can be found via the journal Brain, Behavior and Immunity.