Chapter 9: Substance Abuse

What is drug abuse?

impairs the user’s biological, psychological, or social well-being

What are the mechanisms of drug action?

Drugs enter the body (swallowed, inhaled, injected) and cross the blood-brain barrier

What are the main models of addiction?

Biomedical, Reward, and Social-Learning models

What is the biomedical model?

Addiction is a chronic brain disease; genes make some more vulnerable.

Withdrawal-relief hypothesis

Drug use serves to restore abnormally low levels of key neurotransmitters

What is the reward model?

Addiction is pleasure-driven—drugs trigger the brain’s reward system

What is the social-learning model?

Addiction is learned from peers, environment, and identity

What does social control theory say?

Strong ties to family, school, and norms = less likely to use drugs

What does peer cluster theory say?

Your friend group can override social rules

What health problems are linked to tobacco use?

Cancer, COPD, heart disease, weak immune system, mouth disease, depression, and hearing/vision issues

How have smoking rates changed?

Dropped from about 53 % (men, 1955) to 20 % overall after the 1964 Surgeon General warning

Who’s most likely to smoke today?

Men > women; American Indian/Alaska Native highest; low education/income smoke more

Why do people continue smoking?

Nicotine dependence, relaxation, stress coping, and withdrawal avoidance

Addiction Model

Emphasize physiological effects and habitual behavior of smoking. Nicotine (patch, gum) tackles biology not mind

Cognitive behavioral focus 

Looks at why people smoke — the motivation, conditioning, and psychological triggers that keep the habit going.

Aversion therapy (smoking)

A behavioral technique that makes smoking unpleasant

What three personal factors determine quitting success?

Motivation, physical dependence, and barriers/supports

Who’s most likely to drink alcohol?

European Americans → highest rates; Native Americans → highest binge drinking; men > women; higher education = more drinking

What are biological health effects of alcohol?

Liver cirrhosis, brain damage (Korsakoff’s), high BP/cholesterol, heart disease, and fetal alcohol syndrome

What are psychosocial health effects of alcohol?

Impaired judgment, aggression, risky sex, violence, and accidents

What psychosocial reasons explain drinking?

Stress relief, tension-reduction, and using alcohol to “turn off” self-criticism

What does the social-learning model say about drinking?

People learn to drink from others; alcohol gives pleasure and social approval

What treatments exist for alcohol dependence?

Detox meds, opiate antagonists, aversion therapy (pair drinking with nausea), relapse-prevention groups, coping skills, and controlled drinking programs