Psychopharmacology and Drug Effects

Vocabulary practice flashcards covering drug effects, tolerance, stimulants, nicotine, caffeine, and alcohol from Chapters 5 through 9.

Initial Sensitivity

The effect of a drug on an individual using it for the first time.

Sensation Seeking

A personality trait characterized by the pursuit of novel and intense experiences; higher levels correlate with an increased likelihood of drug and alcohol addiction.

Drug Expectancy

A person's anticipation of or belief regarding what they will experience upon taking a drug.

Drug Setting

The physical, social, and environmental context that influences the effects of drugs such as alcohol, marijuana, and hallucinogens.

Dispositional Tolerance

An increase in the rate of metabolizing a drug resulting from regular use, requiring higher doses to achieve desired effects.

Functional Tolerance

The brain's adaptation to compensate for behavioral and bodily disruptions caused by a drug, allowing an individual to consume large amounts without appearing intoxicated.

Acute Tolerance

A decrease in response to a drug that develops within a single exposure or administration.

Protracted Tolerance

Tolerance that develops over two or more drug administrations, requiring progressively higher doses to achieve the same initial effect.

Behavioral Tolerance

A learned response in which an individual adjusts their behavior and mannerisms to mask visible signs of drug intoxication.

Cross-Tolerance

Tolerance to a drug that has never been taken, occurring as a result of protracted tolerance built against another drug.

Cross-Dependence

A physiological phenomenon wherein one central nervous system depressant can suppress the withdrawal symptoms of another.

Reinforcer

A consequence of a behavior that increases the future likelihood that the behavior will recur.

Punisher

A consequence of a behavior that suppresses or decreases the future likelihood that the behavior will recur.

Crack Cocaine

A solid, smokable form of cocaine produced by mixing cocaine hydrochloride with baking soda and heating it, causing rapid onset euphoria lasting $5\text{--}15\,\text{minutes}$.

Perforated Septum

A hole in the nasal partition that can result from chronic intranasal snorting of cocaine powder due to tissue damage.

Vasoconstriction (Therapeutic Cocaine)

The narrowing of blood vessels induced by cocaine that minimizes bleeding, supporting its medical application as a local anesthetic in eye, nose, and throat surgeries.

Prodrug

A pharmacologically inactive compound (such as Vyvanse) that must be metabolized by the body into an active drug, making it ineffective when snorted or injected.

Stereotypy

Compulsive, repetitive motor behaviors—such as rocking, hair-pulling, or fiddling with objects—observed in high-dose stimulant misuse.

Formication

A hallucinatory tactile sensation that insects or 'meth bugs' are crawling on or underneath the skin.

Meth Mouth

Severe dental damage and decay associated with chronic methamphetamine use, resulting from xerostomia (dry mouth), bruxism, and poor oral hygiene.

State-Dependent Learning

A cognitive phenomenon in which information learned while under the influence of a drug is most efficiently recalled while in that same pharmacological state.

Stimulant Psychosis

A temporary psychotic state marked by paranoid delusions and hallucinations brought on by high doses of stimulants; it is treatable with antipsychotics like Thorazine (chlorpromazine).

Biphasic Drug Action

A pharmacological profile where a drug produces stimulant effects at lower doses (stimulating acetylcholine receptors) but depressant actions at higher doses.

Cholinergic Agonist

A drug that binds to and stimulates acetylcholine (ACH)-sensitive receptors, exemplified by nicotine.

Mesocorticolimbic System

The central dopaminergic reward pathway where nicotine increases dopamine levels to mediate reinforcement.

Nicotine Dependence Liability

The high probability of developing addiction to nicotine, driven by rapid reinforcement cycles (averaging $150$ per day for a pack-a-day smoker), accessibility, and negative reinforcement to prevent withdrawal.

Nicotine Withdrawal Symptoms

Adverse physical and psychological signs following tobacco cessation, including disturbed sleep patterns, anxiety, weight gain, cravings, coughing, and a short temper.

Adenosine Receptor Antagonism

The primary mechanism of action of caffeine, wherein it blocks adenosine receptors to prevent behavioral sedation, vasodilation, and bronchoconstriction.

Caffeinism

A toxic condition caused by consuming excessive caffeine (often $\ge 600\,\text{mg/day}$) characterized by restlessness, nervousness, irritability, insomnia, diuresis, tremors, and tachycardia.

Caffeine Withdrawal

A recognized clinical condition occurring after stopping regular caffeine intake, primarily characterized by headache, fatigue, depression, and irritability.

Adult Lethal Dose of Caffeine

The fatal ingestion threshold of caffeine in adults, estimated at approximately $75$ cups of coffee, $125$ cups of tea, $200$ colas, or $100$ NoDoz tablets.

Vasopressin Inhibition

The mechanism through which alcohol suppresses antidiuretic hormone release, leading to increased fluid excretion and diuresis.

Peripheral Vasodilation

A vascular response caused by alcohol that widens surface blood vessels, causing skin flushing and a sensation of warmth.

Alcohol Blackout

Complete amnesia for events that transpired while drinking despite no loss of consciousness, resulting from a failure to transfer short-term memories into long-term storage.

Alcohol Grayout

Partial recall of events that occurred while intoxicated, likely related to state-dependent memory retrieval.

Alcohol Withdrawal Syndrome

A clinical state diagnosed when two or more symptoms (e.g., insomnia, autonomic hyperactivity, hand tremors, psychomotor agitation, nausea, seizures, or delirium tremens) appear after stopping prolonged alcohol use.

Wernicke's Disease

An acute neurological disorder characterized by confusion, memory loss, staggering gait, and inability to focus the eyes, caused by thiamine (vitamin $B_1$) deficiency and reversible with treatment.

Korsakoff's Syndrome

A chronic neurological disorder primarily caused by alcohol toxicity, resulting in structural brain damage, severe short-term memory impairments, and confusion.

Confabulation

The fabrication of stories or facts to fill memory gaps without the intent to deceive, frequently observed in patients with Korsakoff's syndrome.

Fetal Alcohol Syndrome (FAS)

A developmental disorder caused by maternal alcohol use during pregnancy, resulting in cognitive impairment and characteristic craniofacial anomalies such as a small head, flat face, epicanthal folds, smooth philtrum, and thin upper lip.

Cirrhosis

Liver Failure (end stage liver disease ESLD)