Psychology
In order to develop effective treatment programs for drug addicts, it is essential to maintain a basic knowledge of the physiological basis of their cravings. Given social and political mandates calling for a cessation of drug abuse or at the very least for the implementation of harm reduction, it is just as important to administer to those exposed to addictive substances as it is to develop methods of preventing exposure. In addition, an ability to explain the neuro-scientific effects of drug use allows those that are responsible for prevention to provide potential users with deterrents that are less dogmatic and more circumspect. To these ends, neuroscience has developed a new understanding of the reasons for addiction.
Behavioral neuroscience has taught us that humans, like other animals, crave certain pharmaceutical agents. Studies have enabled scientists to better understand the neuro-chemistry of pleasure and of cravings. A side effect of these studies is that scientists are now armed with many more methods of artificially inducing pleasure and other moods in the human brain.
The agents that have provided the strongest reaction include opiates and amphetamine-like psycho-stimulants. Two of the most emotionally attractive types of drugs have been narcotics such as morphine and heroin, and psycho-stimulants such as cocaine and amphetamines. Studies have shown that animals share the human propensity to self-administer these drugs if this opportunity is available to them. This is because these drugs interact with specific receptors in the brain. These receptors normally help mediate various pleasures and psychic excitement. This In the example of heroin addiction, considered one of the most socially disruptive opiate-derivative addictions, the brain contains mu-opiate receptors. According to Affective Neuroscience: The Foundations of Human and Animal Emotions by Jaak Panksepp,
These receptors normally control an animal's urges to maintain various brain and bodily balances (i.e., homeostatic balance) via feeding, sexual/social behavior, and so forth. The psychic reflections of doing "the right thing biologically" are feelings of satisfaction and pleasure. Which of the many brain opiate systems actually mediate this subjective feeling is not well understood, but...
The most effective locations are in the brain stem, near the central gray of the midbrain, and the ventral-tegmental area, where the A10 mesolimbic DA cells are situated.
Panksepp 118)
Cocaine and amphetamines also increase DA availability at synapses of the mesolimbic circuit, causing the same addictive effect. Self-administration of psycho-stimulants declines when this system is damaged. The normal function of this system is to energize appetitive behavior - that is - to provide motivation for action. This function is integral to the brain, in that the chief end of the human brain is to provoke action by making these actions appetizing. The psycho-stimulant allows animals to bypass other brain functions that contextualize desire and appease the brain's desire centers directly. These brain systems might normally motivate an animal to explore and to vigorously pursue courses of action. Therefore, the effect of self-stimulation is duo-fold: it not only taxes brain centers that are responsible for the creation of appetite, but are eventually pulled from their innate desires to better themselves through pro-active conduct. The appeal of cocaine is tempered by the dopamine reuptake site; knockout mice without this receptor do not desire psycho-stimulants. The main receptor stimulated by psycho-stimulants is the D2 type of the receptor rather than D1, the dominant receptor.
Scientists hypothesize that other addictive behaviors, such as compulsive gambling, are controlled by internal urges brought about by dopamine chemistries. One of the key questions faced by neurologists is how to diminish these cravings once the desire to diminish them has been established. In the case of cocaine, scientists have been able to diminish cocaine addiction in animals by inducing them to create antibodies to the substance.
Many scientists argue that the abatement of addictive propensities can be accomplished through the disassociation of things that provoke addiction with desire. This has been explored in depth by those wishing to tackle cigarette addiction. According to Russell Leaf et all, who propose a psychological process that will wean people away from their addictions. This team claims that when nausea…
