Un articolo d’opinione ospitato sul New York Times a firma Maia Szalavitz suggerisce una connessione tra l’uso di oppiacei sintetici, pervasivo in alcune aree degli Stati Uniti, e la sensazione di essere amati, a casa, protetti.

L’autrice collega l’emergenza sociale di abuso di questi farmaci alla aumentata disconnessione e solitudine nella società americana. L’evidenza scientifica sembra sostenere, almeno in parte, questa ipotesi:

When I did yield to temptation — in a fit of rage over a boyfriend’s infidelity in the mid-1980s — that’s what I experienced. It wasn’t euphoria that hooked me. It was relief from my dread and anxiety, and a soothing sense that I was safe, nurtured and unconditionally loved.

Science now shows that this comparison is more than a metaphor. Opioids mimic the neurotransmitters that are responsible for making social connection comforting — tying parent to child, lover to beloved.

The brain also makes its own opioids. These endogenous ones include endorphins and enkephalins that are better recognized for their roles in pleasure and pain but are also critical to the formation and maintenance of social bonds. One 2004 study found that infant mice without certain opioid receptors did not show attachment to their mothers.

I numeri di quella che negli USA è ormai conosciuta come una “epidemia da oppiacei” sono impressionanti: sono stati calcolati 75.000 morti da overdose fra l’aprile 2020 e l’aprile 2021. L’autrice li mette in diretta relazione con l’atomizzazione della società americana: negli ultimi trent’anni, per esempio, i numeri sull’isolamento sociale sono stati in constante aumento, e sembrano aver subito un’impennata con la pandemia. In un recente sondaggio, circa il 60% dei giovani americani intervistati ha confermato di vivere in solitudine “spesso o quasi sempre”.

Research has also shown that low social capital, which is a measure of how much people feel connected, trust one another and are a part of their communities, is strongly linked with overdose fatalities. One study that looked closely at individual counties found that those with more civic organizations, nonprofits and greater participation in presidential elections and the census (all of which are linked to trust and social networks) tended to have far fewer overdose deaths. Conversely, neighborhoods riven by poverty tend to have less social connectedness — and more overdoses.

L’articolo è disponibile dietro soft paywall – può essere letto previa registrazione gratuita.