Addiction and High Risk Use

High Risk Use and Addiction

• High risk use: continued use of drugs despite severe social or legal consequences
• Characteristics:
• Temporary escape from reality becomes primary focus of life
• Unafraid or unaware of consequences of behavior
• Unbearable cravings drive behavior to obtain drugs

Addiction

• Defined as:
• Inability to control amount and frequency of drug use
• Irresistible cravings and urges for the substance
• Continued use despite adverse effects
• Denial of negative consequences
• Tendency to abuse other mood-altering drugs or alcohol
• Willingness to break the law to obtain the substance
• Tolerance and withdrawal signs and symptoms

Drug Abuse and Dependence

• Drug abuse: use of a drug in a manner not approved by the culture, resulting in social disapproval
• Non-medical drug use: recreational use of licit and illicit drugs for pleasurable effects
• Drug dependence: syndrome in which an individual continues to take a drug due to pleasurable effects, despite adverse social or medical consequences

Dose and Craving

• Dose of drug often increased to maintain desired effect (habituation or adaptation)
• Craving: uncontrolled desire to obtain and use drugs or substances an addict is dependent on

Central Pathways and Mechanisms of Dependence

• Main factors involved in drug dependence:
• Reward (reinforcing)
• Habituation
• Aversive effect on abstinence (physical withdrawal syndrome)
• Psychological changes resulting in craving
• Neurobiological basis of reward and habituation:
• Mesolimbic dopaminergic system
• Release of dopamine in nucleus accumbens (NAc) by various mechanisms

Other Transmitters Involved in Dependence

• Noradrenergic system: involved in excessive sympathetic activity following withdrawal
• Serotoninergic system: 5-HT uptake blockers or agonists decrease drug seeking behaviors
• Amino acid systems (GABAergic and glutamatergic): interact with barbiturates, BDZs, and alcohol
• Canabinoid action: via cannabinoid receptor (CB1)
• Cholinergic systems: nicotine interacts with

Mechanism of Habituation

• Chronic use of drugs increases adenylate cyclase in N.Acc., leading to increased cAMP, G-proteins, and protein kinases
• Protein kinases control activity of ion channels, leading to changes in neuronal activity

This quiz explores the consequences of continued drug use despite severe social and legal repercussions, and how it can take over one's life. Learn about the characteristics of addiction and its effects on behavior.