The science of Addiction - psychology - Assignment Example

It provides an insight of chemical interaction that takes place at the synaptic level that causes the drug user to feel “high”. The most interactive and yet knowledgeable was “Mouse Party”. It is self-explanatory and provides an in depth understanding about the 7 most dreaded drugs of abuse causing addiction encompassing: LSD, Cocaine, Alcohol, Methamphetamine, Marijuana, Ectasy, Heroin. Dopamine is an important neurotransmitter. Dopamine is a neurotransmitter located in our Central Nervous System making it one of our most important neurotransmitters.

Another neurotransmitter of CNS called Norephinephrine is manufactured from dopamine. Dopamine, along with Norephinephrine, plays an imperative role in attention and focus. Drugs affecting attention and focus affects the signaling pathway of dopamine and therefore many of the aspects of the website focus on the neurotransmitter Dopamine which is also called as “happy neurotransmitter” responsible for the feeling of pleasure, attachment, sense of altruism and integration of thoughts and feelings.

Moreover deficiencies of Dopamine cause anhedonia, lack of ability to feel love, sense attachment to another, lack of remorse about actions, distractibility. Thus dopamine play imperative role in the control of movement and therefore the website emphasized a lot on dopamine. The action of various drugs is well explained on this site under the section “How Drugs Can Kill”. This states that drugs are toxic substances and long-term drug abuse can badly affect the health of an individual, on the other hand even a single dose can be detrimental. E.g.

Heroin is the cause for maximum deaths due to overdose of the drug. Under normal conditions the respiratory balance is maintained by excitatory and inhibitory signals by glutamate and GABA respectively, but a toxic dose of heroin enhances the inhibitory effect of GABA which reduces the breathing and