10/30- addiction lecture

—adolescents, families, addiction— 

  • the ‘right’ to use mind-altering agents comes from: 

    • ‘natural’ laws 

  • the initiative to use drugs comes from

    • physiology (nature) 

      • reward/pleasure 

        • brain is meant to repeat stuff like survival, reproductive stuff, and PLEASURE (reinforcing things) 

    • environment (nurture) 

      • culturally

      • if it’s promoted 

    • peers, family, culture 

      • positive or negative influence 

  • physiological     

    • alcohol: reduces brain metabolism 

      • no electrical charge → sneak out of blood vessels → go straight to brain tissue → travels all around 

        • cocaine too 

      • affects oxygen use 

      • affects vitamin B1 (what we use to burn oxygen in cells) 

      • sits down of GABA receptors 

        • inhibitory     

        • agonizes GABA 

      • lesions in brain → memory loss 

—measuring, diagnosing, models of addiction—

  • total federal drug control spending in the US increased drastically from 2012-2023

  • those with mental disorders have higher substance use 

—substance use disorder diagnosis (ex: DSM5)—

  • substance related disorders divided into 

    • substance use disorders

    • substance induced disorders 

  • each disorder now measured on a continuum 

    • from mild to severe

  • “ a problematic pattern of substance use leading to clinically significant impairment or distress as manifested by at least two of the following occurring in a 12-month period” 

  1. substance is often taken in larger amounts or over a longer period of time than was intended