Discussion 19 Flashcards
Disinhibition Theory
It holds that alcohol has a selective depressant
effect on the cortical brain region that controls judgment while
sparing subcortical structures that are responsible for more instinctual
behaviors, such as desire. Stated differently, alcohol depresses learned
inhibitions based on reasoning and judgment while releasing the
“beast” within
Behavioural myopia
(nearsightedness), is the tendency for people
under the influence of (in this case) alcohol to respond to a restricted
set of immediate and prominent cues while ignoring more remote
cues and possible consequences. Immediate and prominent cues are
very strong, obvious, and close at hand
learned?
(nearsightedness), is the tendency for people
under the influence of (in this case) alcohol to respond to a restricted
set of immediate and prominent cues while ignoring more remote
cues and possible consequences. Immediate and prominent cues are
very strong, obvious, and close at hand. because behaviour is inconsistent
substance abuse
is a pattern of drug use in which people rely on a
drug chronically and excessively, allowing it to occupy a central place
in their life. I
addiction
In a more advanced state of substance dependence,
popularly known as
addiction, people exhibit three characteristics:
escalation, compulsive drug taking, and relapse.
explain escaltion, compulsive drug taking and relapse
Escalation refers to
increased drug consumption through increased dose or dosing
frequency. Compulsive drug taking is defined as repetitive and persistent drug
administration despite negative consequences. It is related to the
inability to completely cease taking drugs. Relapse involves the
recurrence of compulsive drug use after a period of abstinence
withdrawl symtoms
Drug addicts may also experience unpleasant, sometimes
dangerous physical
withdrawal symptoms if they suddenly stop
taking their drug of choice. Symptoms can include muscle aches and
cramps, anxiety attacks, sweating, nausea, and even, for some drugs,
convulsions and death.
psychomotor activation
hat is, at certain levels of consumption, these drugs make the user feel energetic and in control. This common effect has led to the
hypothesis that all abused drugs may act on the same target in the
brain: the dopaminergic pathway from the ventral tegmental area to
the nucleus accumbens. Drugs of abuse increase dopamine activity in
the nucleus accumbens, either directly or indirectly, and drugs that
blunt abuse and addiction decrease dopamine activity in the nucleus
accumbens
Risk factors
A number of environmental factors, called adverse childhood
experiences (ACEs), are associated with an increased risk of drug
initiation and drug addiction. ACEs include emotional, physical, and
sexual abuse; emotional and physical neglect; mental illness of a
household member; witnessing violence against one’s mother;
substance abuse by a household member; parental separation or
divorce; and incarceration of a household member.
wanting and liking theory
because wanting and liking
are produced by different brain systems. They define wanting as
craving, whereas liking is the pleasure the drug produces. With repeated use, tolerance for liking develops, and the expression of
liking (pleasure) decreases as a consequence contrast, the system that mediates wanting sensitizes, and craving
increaseshen a drug is associated with certain cues, the cues themselves elicit desire for the drug
Wanting is drug craving- intrusive thoughts or physicals thoughts
Likling is the pleasurable response
These two are dissociable
Dopamine does not equal pleasure, reward and pleasure are dissociable they are different
Wanting can be high but liking can be low
Tolerance for liking develops
The system becomes more tolerant - need more drug
initial response
The first step on the proposed road to drug dependence is the
initial experience, when the drug affects a neural system associated
with pleasure. At this stage, the user may like the substance—
including liking to take it within a given social context
Repeated experience
With repeated
use, liking the drug may decline from its initial level. At this stage,
the user may also begin to show tolerance to the drug’s effects and so
may begin to increase the dosage to increase liking
cue driven behavior
With each use, the drug taker increasingly associates the cues
related to drug use—be it a hypodermic needle, the room in which the
drug is taken, or the people with whom the drug is taken—with the
drug-taking experience. The user makes this association because the
drug enhances classically conditioned cues associated with drug
taking. Eventually, these cues come to possess incentive salience:
they induce wanting, or craving, the drug-taking experience
Genetics
evidence suggesting a genetic contribution to differences in drug use.
First, if a twin abuses alcohol, his or her identical twin (same
genotype) is more likely to abuse it than would be a fraternal twins
(only some genes in common). Second, people adopted shortly after
birth are more likely to abuse alcohol if their biological parents were
alcoholic, even though they have had almost no contact with those
parents. Third, although most animals do not care for alcohol,
selective breeding of mice, rats, and monkeys can produce strains that
consume large quantities of it.
