Psychoactive Substances Addiction - Essay Example

?Q1 A American Psychiatric Association has, in the year 2000, published the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM). The DSM-IV-TR, the latest version of DSM available in 2010 sites around seven measures to determine Substance Dependence in people. In the event of meeting three or more of the given criteria a year, could be defined as Substance Dependence (Walton and Milton 2010). The manual specifies that substance is used for a longer period than indented duration in an ever increasing quantity could be termed as a sign of Substance Dependence. Such disorder might drive the person to spend a great deal of time in trying to acquire and use the substance. While they persistently wish to stop or cut down the use of these substances, the attempts will remain unsuccessful. Increased tolerance and withdrawal are part of the decreed criteria in the manual. Substance Dependence also causes the person to almost or fully quit important social, recreational or occupational activities. Such a disorder would lead the victim to continue the use of substance even after he/she realises that the physical or psychological problems are the after effect of drugs (Walton and Milton 2010). Based on the above said criteria, Mirapex, a drug that restores the effects of dopamine, seems to have the potential to generate addictive behaviour in patients. Just when Harrison, a husband and father, started taking Mirapex, he entered into a world of gambling, sex and addictions (CTV News 2010). At the peak of his destruction, he even thought of committing suicide as he did not want to have such a miserable life. Almost seven years later Harrison decided to stop using Mirapex on his own. He just went ahead and threw the drug away from his life itself. He suffered severe physical problems. But eventually Harrison regained his self (CTV News 2010). Though the behaviour lasted for over seven years, the disorder Harrison suffered could not be termed as complete addiction because the intended period of the prescription is not given. However, the doctor had never warned him of any eventuality. On the other hand, His attempt to quit was successful, the moment he decided to stop it. If he had a substance dependency, it would not have been possible. Q1 B Though the exact mechanism of the relation between Dopamine and addictive behaviour is unclear, studies have found the alterations of dopamine levels in the Cerebrospinal Fluid (CSF). The dopamine levels in the CSF of gamblers were lower than that of non-gamblers. Similarly, addictions can occur in combinations and all those activities would lead to excite the donaminergic neurons in the brain. There are a large number of drugs that can turn out to be addictive. They usually have very similar neurobiological effect on the brain. These activities lead the brain to reinforce relevant behaviours to encourage the addictive use or engagement. Hence the dopamine administration in Parkinson’s disease require a better understanding of neurotransmission and the dopamine synapse to prevent patients from developing ICD (Walton and Milton 2010). Neurons communicate between two neurons by releasing specific neurotransmitters into the synaptic gap. The released neurotransmitters bind itself to postsynaptic or neighbouring neurons. The electric spark produced during this action determines whether the neuron will generate an action potential or not. However such activities of neurotransmitter would not keep on continuing. The basic comprehension of this neurotransmission and neurobiology of motivation are vital in understanding the shared mechanism regarding the addictive drugs and behaviours. All the addictive drugs work in various ways towards the same result of increasing the dopamine levels at the synapse. Yet another factor to consider in this regard would be the rate at which the drug enters the brain. It is also critical determining the overall dopamine levels. A faster entry of an addictive drug to brain will induce more intense and stronger impulse to promote repeated use. Thus chances of becoming an addict are higher. While the drugs have a telling effect on altering the dopamine levels at the synapses, engaging in certain behaviours also elicit same effects. Lastly, motivation could be categorised into both wanting and liking. At the same time, in the incentive motivation or mesolimbocortical pathway, the dopamine regulates wanting through its action. Therefore, the motivational pull can be increased to a great level by higher dopamine release. The use of drug or engaging in some behaviour could be seen more attractive due to this phenomenon. These addictive behaviours can be the beginning of ICD in a person. Q2. Psychological wellbeing is an important aspect of social life. Psychological disorders are effectively treated with both psychosocial and pharmacological interventions. The treatment has many phases and involves a number of different aspects. Therefore, different types of treatments are applicable at different points of recovery. Hence, this essay further discusses the fact that ‘effective treatment for mental health conditions must involve a combination of psychosocial and pharmacological treatments’. It is because of the neurobiological basis on which the psychological behaviour might be routed upon. However, the number of imaging studies conducted with pre and post treatment images of brain suggest that pharmacological and psychosocial treatment achieve their results through different routs (Walton and Milton 2010). Treatments with drugs and psychotherapy were able to change brain structure and function through some possible pathways. So when a biological treatment or a psychological treatment consequently brings a mental change, they might also cause changes in brain events. It means the activities in the prefrontal cortex might increase. Whereas the studies show that generally activities in frontal cortex decrease and activities of hippocampal increase with Cognitive Behaviour Therapy (CBT) but drugs treatment shows the opposite results. In a treatment for depression the CBT targets and modifies the negative thoughts with very consciously controlling the activities in the frontal cortex while Antidepressant Medication (ADM) deals with hippocampus which is the emotional area of the brain (Walton and Milton 2010). Subgenual cingulate cortex is an area found to be overactive in the brains of depressed individual. Completing consistent imaging studies in this area resulted in triumphant DBS treatment. Mood improvement is an essential part of mental wellbeing, since it is related to neurogenesis, ECT would be useful to stimulate the development. ECT also has another positive benefit of increasing the release of GABA. Being an inhibitory neurotransmitter, GABA can influence the activity of the amygdale (Walton and Milton 2010). Just as in dealing with chronic health problems, chronic mental problems also need two ways approach in the treatment. Intervention is needed before problem begins, if it is preventable. While prevention is one phase of the treatment program, the medical professionals should also implement treatment for stopping the addictive behaviour, drug use or other problems that have already been developed. The prevention programs could be introduced at two specific points. First, before the behaviour start or before the behaviour becomes a danger. School based prevention programs are one of the generally practiced prevention programs. The program is successful mainly because the targeted student population is the most vulnerable group. Nonetheless, the school based intervention is normally designed to provide students with psychological and social skills to be normal and useful citizens. As a matter of fact, the prevention methods have their own limitations and problems. The school-based intervention is mainly started in USA and almost not available in other countries. Moreover, there is not much literature existing on the effectiveness of these programs (Walton and Milton 2010). A psychosocial intervention which concentrates on recovery from addiction is Transtheoretical Model (TTM). This model is also known as stages of change model as it states five stages during the recovery process from chronic behavioural patterns. It is a model developed in 1980s by Prochashka and DiClemente. It still has significance in the clinical set up. The model considers the five following steps to be the motivations of individual. The model starts with first step called Pre-contemplation which means the individual has not thought about a change. During this period the patient gets a better awareness of the need for change. The second stage is Contemplation in which the individual thinks about the potential of change. The third stage follows with Preparation. During this stage the individual vows to take action to change and prepares an action plan. As soon as the plan is created the fourth stage, Action, is implemented. If any disruptions take place during this stage, the plan will revised accordingly. Maintenance is the fifth stage in which the behavioural plan is sustained for an extended period (Walton and Milton 2010). However, within the limits of the TTM or outside of it, there are numerous psychosocial measures helpful in treating behavioural patterns. Giving up the addictive behaviour is also facilitated by pharmacological treatments. Unlike psychosocial treatment, the pharmacological interventions can not be implemented in the pre-contemplation period. The drugs can only assist to support the abstinence. In fact, the use of drugs to alter the motivation is not appropriate because mesolimbocortical pathway, which is vital in motivation, is vital in all type of motivation. Therefore, altering motivation would affect all type of motivation in a person action related to food sex or even routines and so on. Over all, drug treatment aimed at suppressing the craving experience is much more appropriate as far as incentive sensitisation and cognitive bias models are concerned. Despite being more effective, the drug treatments can have their own limitations. Mainly, the vaccines would be limited to operate against one drug and might be less effective for a person using multiple drugs. Hypnotherapy and acupuncture are the main alternative treatment methods with considerable literature (Walton and Milton 2010). To sum up, the behavioural disorders can affect many aspects of life like sex, gambling, social activities and so on. These disorders can be treated with both psychosocial and pharmacological treatments. Both these methods cause mental alterations required for motivation, determination and recovery. While psychosocial treatment methods can be used to generate motivation and decision to stop the addictive activities, the pharmacological treatment methods are more precise but can be administered to support the abstinence during the recovery process. Both these methods have limitations in different circumstances. References CTV News (2010) Parkinson’s Drug Sends Patients on Orgy of Gabling, Shopping and Sex http://www.ctvnews.ca/parkinson-s-drug-sends-patients-on-orgy-of-gambling-shopping-and-sex-1.505516 Walton. H and Milton. K (2010) Addictions Book 3 SDK228 The Science of the Mind: Investigating Mental Health. Science Level 2 Open University. Walton. H and Milton. K (2010) Mood and Wellbeing Book 2 SDK228 The Science of the Mind: Investigating Mental Health. Science Level 2 Open University. Read More