The handful of studies that investigated the effects of stress on disinhibition have yielded contradictory findings. For example, one study demonstrated that acute stress magnified the influence of alcohol-related cues on disinhibition (44), whereas Constantinou et al. (69) found that acute stress actually reduced disinhibition in opiate users and matched non-user controls. These findings may be reconciled if we carefully consider the severity of the stress response: Henderson et al. (70) demonstrated increased disinhibition after both high and low stress levels of stress, whereas moderate levels of stress led to reduced disinhibition. Therefore, we can speculate that the relationship between disinhibition and stress may follow a U-shaped function, although it is difficult to characterize and directly compare the severity of stress induced in the Constantinou et al. (69) and Zack et al. (44) studies.
