Psychology condense 3 p 14 -21 Opiates and Stimulants Overview

Opiates

• Used to treat pain and anxiety.

• Examples include heroin and morphine.

• Not a depressant.

• Work by acting on endorphin receptors in the body.

• Different from depressants, despite overlapping effects on anxiety and rest.

• Depressants act on GABA receptors.

• Lead to a feeling of euphoria, which is why they are used recreationally.

Stimulants

• Increase or intensify neural and bodily functions.
• Range from caffeine to cocaine and amphetamines/methamphetamines, to ecstasy and nicotine.
• Caffeine inhibits adenosine receptors, impacting sleep.
• Nicotine disrupts sleep and decreases appetite.
• At high levels, nicotine can relax muscles and release stress-reducing neurotransmitters, countering hyper-alertness.
• All stimulants, including cocaine, create heightened levels of dopamine, serotonin, and norepinephrine.
• Cocaine's intense stimulation can deplete the brain's supply of these neurotransmitters, causing a significant crash and depression after the high wears off.
• Cocaine use can lead to dangerous side effects, including suspicion, convulsions, respiratory arrest, and cardiac failure in regular users.
• Amphetamines and methamphetamines also increase dopamine levels, leading to euphoria lasting up to 8 hours.
• All stimulants are highly addictive, causing withdrawal symptoms such as anxiety, insomnia, and irritability.

Hallucinogens

• Cause hallucinations and altered perceptions.
• Some have medical uses.
• Ecstasy is both a stimulant and a hallucinogen, raising dopamine and serotonin levels to create euphoria.
• Damage to serotonin-producing neurons can affect mood regulation.
• Ecstasy causes hallucinations and heightened sensations, like an artificial feeling of social connectedness.

LSD

• Interferes with serotonin, causing hallucinations.
• Hallucinations are typically visual rather than auditory.
• Marijuana also acts as a mild hallucinogen.
• Its main active chemical, THC, heightens sensitivity to sounds, tastes, and smells.
• Like alcohol, Marijuana reduces inhibition and impairs motor skills and coordination.
• Can have disruptive effects on memory formation and short-term recall.
• Hallucinogens can last in the body up to a week.
• Some are used as medicine to reduce pain and nausea, especially in PTSD treatment, to help sufferers detach from painful memories.

Drug Dependence and Homeostasis

• Homeostasis is the body's ability to regulate factors like temperature, heart rate, and metabolism.
• Drugs like amphetamines disrupt homeostasis; the body actively tries to return to normal.
• Regular drug users tend to take them around the same time each day.
• In addiction, the brain recognizes cues from surroundings, preparing the body for a drug (e.g. the location, tools, environment etcetera) before it's ingested, leading to heightened effects and higher doses needed over time for the same high.
• Without the drug, after a period of abuse, the body will crash.

Routes of Drug Entry

• Oral ingestion is the slowest route, taking about half an hour.
• Inhalation, like smoking or breathing in fumes, reaches the brain quickly (within 10 seconds).
• Injection directly into veins is the fastest, taking place within seconds.
• Transdermal (patches) deliver drugs slowly over hours.
• Intramuscular routes, like vaccines, deliver drugs at varying speeds, quickly or slowly.

Reward Pathway in the Brain

• Dopamine is released in the ventral tegmental area (VTA) when an individual experiences pleasure.
• Signals are sent to the amygdala, nucleus accumbens, prefrontal cortex, and hippocampus for positive reinforcement.
• Different stimuli trigger variable responses in this circuitry and in the different brain areas involved.
• Dopamine plays a crucial role in feelings of satiation and contentment.
• Biological reasons for addiction have been found in animal models; for example, rats taking more drugs and/or increases in drug dosage over time.
• Addiction overrides rational thinking.

Tolerance and Withdrawal

• Tolerance is the body’s adaptation to a drug, requiring increasingly higher doses for the same effect.
• Post-synaptic neurons reduce dopamine receptors; this reduces the drug’s impact and the pleasure derived.
• With certain drugs, after a prolonged period of no drug use, users experience withdrawal symptoms, such as depression, anxiety, and/or psychosis.
• The body's attempts to return to a normal state.

Drug Dependence and Substance Use Disorders

• Drug use can lead to substance-use disorders.
• This could impact the person's life and performance in areas including their work, school, or home life.
• Withdrawal symptoms are common in long-term drug users.
• Drug use can lead to disorders in mood, anxiety, sleep, and psychosis.
• Substances, even in smaller amounts, can negatively impact the user.

Treatments and Triggers

• Treatments address both physical and psychological symptoms.
• Detoxification is a common first step.
• Medications can help address symptoms, like reducing cravings, easing withdrawal, or reducing drug effects.
• Alcoholics may be treated with medications that block alcohol receptors in the brain, reducing withdrawal symptoms.
• Certain medications can be used to prevent relapses.

Attention

• Divided attention is when users try to do two tasks at a time, shifting between them.
• Selective attention lets people focus on certain stimuli/cues while filtering out others.
• Exogenous cues draw attention without conscious effort; loud noises, or bright colors.
• Endogenous cues rely on prior knowledge or intent; hearing one’s name, or an arrow.
• Inattentional blindness refers to the inability to see a visible stimulus when the mind is focused elsewhere.
• Change blindness is an inability to notice changes in an environment.
• Broadbent's theory focused on early filtering of outside sensory information.
• Deutsh and Deutsh's theory focused on later filtering, after the information has been processed.
• Treisman's approach suggested an attenuating filter that reduces but doesn't eliminate unattended events, which could have influence on perceptual processing in tasks.
• Spotlight model says attention is a limited resource that can be focused on particular events and ignores or reduces the impact of less relevant or important information.

Encoding Strategies

• Encoding transforms sensory information into memory.
• Rote rehearsal involves repetition.
• Chunking groups related information into meaningful units.
• Mnemonic devices use imagery or acronyms to aid memory.
• Self-referencing relates information to personal experiences.
• Spacing out study sessions improves memory retention.