PSYB3: child development and applied options

Substance abuse

Drugs – I never touch them!

Write a list of all the ‘substances’ you can think of.

What did you include? Split these drugs into legal and illegal drugs.

Did you include:◦ Tobacco/nicotine◦ Alcohol◦ Stimulants (amphetamines, cocaine, ecstasy etc)◦ Depressants (opiates -heroin, morphine codeine.

Tranquillisers and barbiturates)

What are substances?

Tobacco◦ 35% of men and 22% of women worldwide

smoken◦ In the UK it is in decline, especially in men◦ The highest rate of smoking is in the 20-34 yr age

group.

◦ Nicotine is the addictive drug, which is a mild stimulant. Nicotine levels in the blood stream drop quickly, and is halved within 30 minutes.

What do each of these substances do?

One of the most common forms of substances:◦ Men drink on average 16 units of alcohol a week

and women 5.5 units.◦ It is absorbed quickly into the blood stream◦ It is highly addictive, creating both psychological

and physiological dependence.◦ Binge drinking is common, where men drink8

units of alcohol and women 5 units on at least one day.

◦ Recommended weekly safe levels are 21 units for a man and 14 units for women.

Alcohol

These stimulate the central nervous system, giving a feeling of happiness, euphoria and energy◦ Often referred to as recreational drugs◦ Amphetamines increase heart rate, increased blood

supply to the muscles and greater levels of dopamine in the brain. Tolerance develops quickly so more and more needs to be taken, and if stopped symptoms include exhaustion, depression and sleeplessness.

◦ Cocaine is usually sniffed through the nose. The effects are quick but short lived. It produces feelings of well being and self confidence. Tolerance is not built up and withdrawal is not as severe as alcohol and heroin.

◦ Other stimulants include ecstasy and alkyl nitrites.

Stimulants

These slow down the activity of the CNS.◦ Low doses make a person feel calm and relaxed,

but high doses are dangerous and could lead to unconsciousness.

◦ Depressants include: Opiates or narcotics such as heroin Tranquillisers such as diazepam and barbiturates

such as sleeping tablets.◦ Heroin is smoked or injected and very quickly

results in dependence. It produces feelings of euphoria but as tolerance builds quickly more needs to be taken to achieve these feelings.

Depressants

Looking at the list of substances in your notes, put them in order of those that are the most harmful.

Which ones are most likely to kill you?

Which drugs are most used

Read the hand out on deadliest drugs and answer the questions

This topic is about substance ABuse. What do I mean by that?

Use and abuse

Use Misuse Abuse

People do not experience harm from taking a substance. For example, drinking coffee in the morning is not harmful. When could it become harmful?

Substance Use

People begin to experience some kind of problem related to substance use. What problems would you associate with excessive caffeine use?

Substance Misuse

This is where the person and those around them are harmed in some way from taking the drug. The harm may be physical, mental or social. ◦ What do we mean by physical, mental or social?

Substance abuse

Addiction is where a substance, which can be natural or synthetic, has been used repeatedly and results in the user being preoccupied with the substance, maintaining a supply and suffering unpleasant consequences if they try to stop taking it.

Physical Dependence is where the body has got used to the substance and continued usage is needed to maintain the body in its normal state.

Addiction vs. Dependence

We only focus on substance abuse in this topic. Have a look at the Big Picture hand out. Read page 4-5 about some of the other forms of addiction that can occur.◦ What did you find out?

Big picture: Addiction p4

Think honestly, do you ‘need’ a cup of coffee or tea to get you out of bed in the morning?

Do you check your facebook page before you even have that cup of coffee?

Could you leave your mobile at home for a whole day?

What are you dependent on?

As we know already, physical dependence is when the body needs the substance to maintain the status quo

Psychological dependence is the emotional and cognitive compulsion to use a drug.◦ Think about that word ‘compulsion’; it’s an

uncontrollable urge, a desire to repeat a behaviour or action.

Physical vs. Psychological dependence

1. The drug becomes the centre of a person’s life

2. They make sure they have supplies of their drug available to them

3. They crave the drug if they go without it for a long time. This is an emotional state involving wanting and longing.

How does Psychological dependence impact on our lives?

Different drugs cause different psychological dependence:

Psychological dependence of different drugs

Heroin Cannabis LSDcocaine

Rapid dependence

Slower dependence

Think about the consequences of psychological dependence on those around a substance abuser. What short and long term effects might there be?

How might psychological dependence impact on others?

Answer the questions about what we have covered today.

1. Name as many substances as you can2. Explain what is meant by substance use,

misuse and abuse3. Define addiction, physiological dependence

and psychological dependence.4. How does psychological dependence

impact on our lives?

Pause for a quick key word check

Many drugs that cause addiction and physical dependence act at the level of the neuron.◦ Dopamine is released into the brain◦ This results in a pleasant experience and one that

we desire to experience again.

What happens to your brain when you take an abused substance

Olds and Milner (1954) investigated the role of the septal area of the brain in addictive behaviour by placing electrodes into rats brains.

The rats pushed a lever and received an electrical impulse.

Some rats continued to press the lever until exhausted and unable to press the lever anymore.

Olds and Milner concluded that stimulation of the septal area of the brain was highly rewarding for the rats.

Like a rat in a cage

Rat pressing the lever to stimulate the pleasure centre of the brain

The brain’s reward system

Main cognitive functions

Regulates drives such as hunger and thirst. Affected by drugs

Produces dopamine and affected by drugs

Brain and addiction◦ Read this page and highlight interesting and

useful facts.◦ Discuss these with the person next to you. ◦ Together answer the following:

What role does the brain’s reward system play in substance abuse?

Big Picture: p7