Addiction ( Paper 3) Flashcards
( intro) What is Addiction?
A disorder in which an individual takes a substance or engages in a behaviour that is pleasurable but eventually becomes complusive with harmful consequences.
What is physical dependence?
A state of the body due to habitual substance abuse which results in a withdrawal syndrome when use of the drug is reduced or stopped.
What is psychological dependence?
A compulsion to continue taking a substance because its use for rewarding.
What is tolerance?
A reduction in response to a substance, so that an addicted individual needs more to get the same effect.
What is withdrawal syndrome?
A set of symptoms that develop when an addicted person abstains from or reduces their substance abuse.
What are risk factors?
Any internal or external influence that increases the likelihood a person will start using addictive substances or engage in addictive behaviours.
Topic: Describing addiction
Physical and psychological dependence, tolerance.
Physical dependence info
It is said to to have occurred when a withdrawal syndrome is produced by reducing or stopping intake.
Psychological dependence ( info)
A consequence of psychological dependence is that the person will keep taking the substance until it becomes a habit, despite the harmful consequences.
Tolerance: 2 types
Behavioural tolerance and cross-tolerance
Behavioural tolerance:
Happens when an individual learns through experience to adjust their behaviour to compensate for the effects of a substance.For instance, people addicted to alcohol learn to walk more slowly when they are drunk to avoid falling over.
Cross-tolerance:
Developing tolerance to one type of substance (e.g. alcohol) can reduce sensitivity to another type (e.g. benzodiazepines).This is a classic issue in surgery. People who have developed a tolerance to the sleep-inducing effects of alcohol need higher doses of anaesthetic. Cross-tolerance can be used therapeutically by giving benzodiazepines to people withdrawing from alcohol to reduce the withdrawal syndrome.
Risk factors in the development of addiction: an overview
1.Genetic vulnerability
2.Stress
3.Personality
4.Family influences
5.Peers
1.Genetic vulnerability
People don’t inherit an addiction itself, they inherit a predisposition (‘vulnerability’) to dependence. Genes may determine the activity of neurotransmitter systems (e.g. dopamine) in the brain, which in turn effect behaviours such as impulsivity that predispose a person to dependence.
2.Stress
People who experience stress may turn to drugs as a form of self-medication (i.e. to experience pleasure or avoid pain). ‘Stress’ includes present and past events (e.g. childhood trauma)
3.Personality
Individual personality traits e.g. hostility and neuroticism may increase the risk of addiction. But there is probably no such thing as an ‘addictive personality’
4.Family influences
Living in a family which uses addictive substances and/or has positive attitudes about addictions increases a person’s likelihood of becoming addicted.
5.Peers
As children get older, peer relationships become the most important risk factor for addiction, outstripping family influences. Even when an adolescent’s peers have not used themselves, their attitudes towards drugs may still be influential.
Withdrawal syndrome info 1
The specific collection of symptoms is unique to each category of substance (e.g. nicotine, alcohol, etc.) and is predictable. The symptoms are almost always the opposite of the ones created by the substance.For instance, a smoker may find that smoking relaxes them, but withdrawal from nicotine ( the active ingredient) produces anxiety, irritability and agitation ( as well as increased appetite and weight gain).
