Addiction ( Paper 3)

Question 1

( intro) What is Addiction?

Answer 1

A disorder in which an individual takes a substance or engages in a behaviour that is pleasurable but eventually becomes complusive with harmful consequences.

Question 2

What is physical dependence?

Answer 2

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.

Question 3

What is psychological dependence?

Answer 3

A compulsion to continue taking a substance because its use for rewarding.

Question 4

What is tolerance?

Answer 4

A reduction in response to a substance, so that an addicted individual needs more to get the same effect.

Question 5

What is withdrawal syndrome?

Answer 5

A set of symptoms that develop when an addicted person abstains from or reduces their substance abuse.

Question 6

What are risk factors?

Answer 6

Any internal or external influence that increases the likelihood a person will start using addictive substances or engage in addictive behaviours.

Question 7

Topic: Describing addiction

Answer 7

Physical and psychological dependence, tolerance.

Question 8

Physical dependence info

Answer 8

It is said to to have occurred when a withdrawal syndrome is produced by reducing or stopping intake.

Question 9

Psychological dependence ( info)

Answer 9

A consequence of psychological dependence is that the person will keep taking the substance until it becomes a habit, despite the harmful consequences.

Question 10

Tolerance: 2 types

Answer 10

Behavioural tolerance and cross-tolerance

Question 11

Behavioural tolerance:

Answer 11

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.

Question 12

Cross-tolerance:

Answer 12

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.

Question 13

Risk factors in the development of addiction: an overview

Answer 13

1.Genetic vulnerability
2.Stress
3.Personality
4.Family influences
5.Peers

Question 14

1.Genetic vulnerability

Answer 14

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.

Question 15

2.Stress

Answer 15

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)

Question 16

3.Personality

Answer 16

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’

Question 17

4.Family influences

Answer 17

Living in a family which uses addictive substances and/or has positive attitudes about addictions increases a person’s likelihood of becoming addicted.

Question 18

5.Peers

Answer 18

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.

Question 19

Withdrawal syndrome info 1

Answer 19

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).