Cortisol reactivity and situational drug use in cocaine-dependent females.

In this double-blind study, cocaine-dependent women were administered a pharmacological stressor or placebo prior to two cue-reactivity procedures. The Inventory of Drug Taking Situations is a self-report questionnaire measuring antecedents to relapse and is comprised of three subscales: negative, positive, and temptation situational drug use. It was hypothesized that women with higher IDTS scores would have a greater cortisol response to the cue-reactivity task while receiving yohimbine versus placebo. All three subscales showed significance during the same times after yohimbine administration and immediately post-cue exposure. Our results may suggest an association between situational and physiological risk factors in this population.