Drug Dependence

What are psychoactive drugs?

Drugs that can alter our consciousness and perceptions

What are the 4 main categories of psychoactive drugs?

Depressants, stimulants, hallucinogens, and opiates

What are depressants?

Drugs that lower the body’s basic functions and neural activity

What are the three categories of depressants?

Alcohol, barbiturates, and benzodiazepines

What are the effects of alcohol?

Decreased inhibitions, lack of coordination, slurred speech

What are the effects of barbiturates?

Induce sleep or reduce anxiety, depress the CNS

What are the effects of benzodiazepines?

Most commonly prescribed suppressant, sleep aids, anti-anxiety, anti-seizures, enhances the brain’s response to GABA

What are stimulants?

Drugs that excite the CNS, increase glucose metabolism in the brain

What are hallucinogens?

Drugs that cause distorted perceptions/hallucinations, heightened sensations, increased emotional responses

What are opiates/opioids?

Drugs that decrease CNS function, reduce the perception of pain, act at body’s receptor sites for endorphins

How does caffeine work?

Inhibits adenosine receptors and disrupts sleep

Cocaine causes the release of….?

Dopamine

What is homeostasis?

The body's ability to maintain a stable, balanced internal environment despite external changes, regulating vital factors like temperature, hydration, and blood sugar

What are the routes of entry for a drug?

Oral, injection, and inhalation

What is the slowest route of entry for drugs?

Oral

What is the most direct route of entry for drugs?

Injection

Where is dopamine produced?

Ventral tegmental area (VTA) in midbrain

Where is dopamine sent in the brain?

Amygdala, hippocampus, nucleus accumbens, and prefrontal cortex

When dopamine travels to the amygdala, what occurs?

The brain says “this was enjoyable”

When dopamine travels to the hippocampus, what occurs?

The brain remembers everything about the environment so it can happen again

When dopamine travels to the nucleus accumbens, what occurs?

Controls motor function

When dopamine travels to the prefrontal cortex, what occurs?

Focuses attention on the stimulate

When dopamine increases, what decreases?

Serotonin

What is tolerance?

A person's diminished response to a drug, which occurs when the drug is used repeatedly and the body adapts to the continued presence of the drug

What is cross tolerance?

A reduction in the efficacy or responsiveness to a novel drug due to a common CNS target

What is intoxication?

When a drug enters the body and exerts effect on somebody

What are the two stages of drug withdrawal?

Acute and post-acute

What is the acute stage of drug withdrawal?

Few weeks, physical withdrawal symptoms, different for each drug/person

What is the post-acute stage of drug withdrawal?

Fewer physical symptoms, more emotional/psychologic symptoms, same symptoms for everyone

What is relapse?

When a patient can slip and go back to drug use