Describing Addiction Flashcards
What is addiction?
A state characterised by compulsively engaging in rewarding stimuli despite the associated adverse consequences.
What is physical dependence?
It can occur with long-term use and is evident when an individual needs to take the drug in order to feel ‘normal’.
How is physical dependence shown?
It can be demonstrated by the presence of withdrawal symptoms if an individual suddenly abstains from the drug.
What is physical dependence often accompanied by?
Increased tolerance to the drug.
The user requires increased doses in order to obtain the desired effect
What us psychological dependence?
Occurs when a drug becomes a central part of an individual’s thoughts, emotions and activities, resulting in a strong urge to use the drug
How can psychological dependence be shown?
A craving - an intense desire to repeat the experience associated with a particular drug or activity.
If the individual attempts to abstain from the drug or activity, they experience intense cravings.
The individual may feel unable to cope without a particular substance or activity, and the desire to use it again becomes so intense that it take over their thinking completely.
What is withdrawal syndrome?
Can occur when a drug on which an individual is physically dependent is discontinued.
What are withdrawal symptoms?
Shaking
Anxiety
Irritability
Headaches
What are the stages of withdrawal?
Acute withdrawal stage
Post-acute withdrawal stage
Why do withdrawal symptoms occur?
The body is attempting to deal with the absence of a drug’s effect.
What happens in the acute withdrawal stage?
The physical cravings that the addict experiences are intense and persistent, as the body has yet adjust to the loss of the drug it had become used to for so long
What is the post-acute withdrawal stage?
Characterised by emotional and psychological turmoil as addicts experience alternating periods of dysfunction and near-normality as the brain slowly reorganises and rebalances itself.
What is tolerance?
Means that an individual no longer responds to a drug in the same way, with the result that larger and larger doses are needed in order to experience the same effects as before
What are the reasons for tolerance to occur?
Enzymes responsible for metabolising the drug do this more effectively over time, resulting in reduced concentration in the blood, making the effect weaker.
A second way is that prolonged drug use leads to changes in receptor density, reducing the response to the normal dose of the drug.
The final way is learned tolerance, which means that a user will experience reduced drug effects because they have learned to function normally when under the influence of the drug.
