Formulate a verbal hypothesis statement concerning cross addictions, substitute addictions, and addiction transfer. Psychologists have helped to expose the struggles of addicts; no longer is recovery a major issue on the journey to sobriety, but the resistance to avoid new addictions is an additional struggle plaguing their lives. Addiction is a brain disease. Charles Graham, the program manager at Sober Living by the Sea (an addiction treatment center) states, “When a person gets clean and sober from one drug and then encounters stress or anxiety, the probability of resorting to another drug having the same effect” (Vivo, 2012). The transference of one addiction (like alcoholism) to another addiction (such as drug addiction) is known as addiction transfer in the discipline of psychology.
History and Theory: Freud and Rogers PSYCH/504 May 13, 2013 Nancy Lees History and Theory: Freud and Rogers The article, “Using the Delay Discounting Task to Test for Failures in Ego Control in Substance Abuse” in the Psychoanalytic Psychology Journal talks about the study done on the self-medication hypothesis of substance use disorders (SUDs). It says that individuals use substances to mask un-pleasurable feelings or experiences. As a society we see this daily. People who have experienced tough times and do not want to feel pain any longer; emotional or physical, are more likely to abuse substances. Individuals do this to make the pain go away which ultimately they really just defense mechanisms (Gottdiener, Murawski, & Kucharski, 2008).
Does an individual’s acoustic startle response increase during their drug addiction or while they are in recovery. Based on this could we determine early on in an individual life if an individual lacks the acoustic startle response are they more apt to become addicted to an illegal substance. One way to understand the relationship between addiction and acoustic startle response is through integration of Psychoneuroimmunology (PNI) and Psychopharmacology. PNI deals with the body’s psychobiological responses to stress. The foundation of Psychological stress has been found to be based on the lack of control and predictability.
Beyond the science of pharmaceuticals is the science of care, a role which encompasses how pills affect our physiology. Critics argue that were placebos to be encouraged in the practice of medicine, patients could delay other treatments with longer- lasting benefits. Similar to the placebo effect, in which a fake medication can give patients the benefits of having taken the real drug, the nocebo effect is the little-studied fact that patients taking a fake drug can also experience real negative side effects. "In one remarkable case, a participant in an antidepressant drug trial was given placebo tablets—and then swallowed 26 of them in a suicide attempt. Even though the tablets were harmless, the participant's blood pressure dropped perilously low."
Addicts are also considered as agents who promote addictive behaviors. On the other hand, this article also presents criticism against the disease model in its explanation of addiction. By absolving addicts from there responsibility it lays foundation for the propagation of addiction and the underestimation of the related problems. This model was developed in the 1800s in Victorian England. It posits that those addicted to alcohol or other drugs are weak-minded, are morally deficient, or wanting in character.
Substance abuse can cause depression and depression can cause substance abuse. Stress is also associated with deficits in hippocampal functioning, the critical brain structure that inhibits stress reactivity and mediates contextual cues. Moreover, drug withdrawal leads to reduced hippocampal functioning via increased cortisol output (Keith, Roberts, Wiren, & Crabbe, 1995). Severity of declarative memory deficits
(Altman et al.1996). Addiction as a whole may be either substance addiction such as drug, alcohol, nicotine and other psychoactive drugs and stimulants or behavioral addictions. The type of behaviors which some people have identified as being addictive include gambling, food, sex, pornography, use of computers, playing video games, use of the internet, work, exercise, spiritual obsession (as opposed to religious devotion), cutting, and shopping. Behaviors like gambling have been linked to the new found idea of the brain’s capacity to predict rewards. The reward system can be triggered by early detectors of the behavior, and trigger dopamine neurons to begin stimulating behaviors.
Grilly had found people with Parkinson’s disease (low levels of dopamine) who were taking the drug L-dopa to raise their levels of dopamine were developing schizophrenic type symptoms. There is a flaw with one of the key pieces of evidence to support the dopamine hypothesis. The drugs used to treat schizophrenia by blocking the dopamine receptors can actually increases it as neurons struggle to compensate for the sudden deficiency. Haracz, in a review of post-mortem studies of schizophrenics, found that most of those studied who showed elevated dopamine levels had received antipsychotic drugs shortly before death, unlike post-mortem of schizophrenics who hadn’t received medication these results showed that these individuals had normal levels of dopamine. Therefore, this evidence then in fact weakens the support for the dopamine hypothesis.
Heroin and opiates release endorphins in the body, called dopamine, causing users to need an opiate continuously. The human brain has an opiate receptor in the brain. Methadone occupies this receptor and is the stabilizing factor that permits addicts on methadone to change their behavior and to discontinue opiate use. Because methadone is effective in eliminating withdraw symptoms, it is used to detoxify opiate addicts. When an
After a while, users need higher doses to get the same effect. This leads to dependence and addiction for those users of the drug. According to the National Institute on Drug Abuse, 43 percent of ecstasy users become dependent on the drug. Users are aware of the negative consequences of ecstasy, but their dependence on it prevents them from stopping to use the drug. However, Ecstasy is used medicinally to relieve victims of post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD).