Preview

Acoustic Startle Response

Powerful Essays
Open Document
Open Document
3208 Words
Grammar
Grammar
Plagiarism
Plagiarism
Writing
Writing
Score
Score
Acoustic Startle Response
Lack of Acoustic Startle Response and Drug Addiction
Amy L. Holmes
Liberty University

I. Abstract 3 II. Introduction 4 a. Stress 4 b. Psychoneuroimmunology (PNI) 4 c. Dopamine 5 III. Acoustic Startle Response Defined 5 IV. Drug Addiction Defined 5 V. Case Studies 6 a. Opiate addiction 6 b. Alcohol addiction 8 c. Detoxification as an early on-set marker 9 d. Cocaine 9 e. Genetics 11 VI. Conclusion 12
VII. References 14

Abstract
Addiction is a growing concern
…show more content…
The foundation of psychological stress has been found to be based on the lack of control and predictability. Corticol levels in an individual will be raised due to the stress. This stress level can be associated with the lack of impulse control, which plays an important role in becoming addicted and staying addicted. Some stress can make the individual feel euphoria, but too much can leave the person feeling sick. An individual needs just enough stress in their lives to challenge their body without overloading their system. Psychological stress is not the only change that is going on in your body during pleasure seeking periods, dopamine levels are also changing. Like stress too little dopamine in your system can leave you feeling sick or depressed, but the right amounts can leave you feeling happy and excited. Researchers are also trying to see if the changes to the neuronal transmitters might also be playing a role in the addicted person’s lack of an acoustic startle …show more content…
American Psychiatric Association and the World Health Organization (as cited in Koob and Moal, 2001) discuss the definition and characteristics of drug addiction in that it is a chronically relapsing disorder that is characterized by two main characteristics: a need to take the drug as part of their day to day behavioral traits towards excessive drug intake, and a loss of control in limiting intake. Drugs that are abused affect the dopamine and opioid peptide networks on the cellular-membrane level. The dopamine network, in the midbrain, acts as the reward and motor system as well as in the higher-order functions, such as cognition and memory; whereas the opioid peptides help us with pain and emotional processing throughout the neuraxis. Constant change to the reward system leaves an individual’s allostatic state at a point where it can never achieve homeostasis and through this constant dysregulation causes repeated drug intake which turns into chronic drug intake which in turn exaggerates the individual’s allostatic

You May Also Find These Documents Helpful

  • Best Essays

    Dopamine can also play a role in addictive behaviors, and cocaine is a severe drug in addiction (Depue& Collins, 1999). Cocaine inhibits the natural order of dopamine. Once the dopamine is set free, it is reused into a dopamine transmitting neuron. Cocaine binds to the dopamine, and does not allow it to be reused. This causes an increase of dopamine and overflows specific neural areas, the overflow stops after a half hour, and the person is feeling the way he or she did before, and this is how the addiction begins (Stocker, 1999).…

    • 1921 Words
    • 8 Pages
    Best Essays
  • Good Essays

    In the first part of this essay, Mate comments on the Downtown Eastside in Vancouver, indicating that it is known as the area in Canada most heavily populated by addicts. He states that much of the addict population also struggles with mental illness. He explains the role of methadone in quelling painful withdrawal from opiates, going on to provide an anecdote of the effect of an opiate drug on the user from one of his clients: “The first time I did heroin…it was like a warm, soft hug.” (Mate, 273) Several scientific pieces of evidence provide reasons for susceptibility to addiction both biologically and emotionally. He indicates that certain neurotransmitters are required to self-soothe and control pain, stating that “Infant rats who get less grooming from their mothers will have fewer natural benzo receptors in the part of the brain that controls anxiety. “ (Mate 275) He says that humans require the same consideration in regards to stimulation of receptors in the brain, stating that the less an infant receives stimulation that triggers a release of endorphins, the greater the likelihood of addiction.…

    • 430 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Better Essays

    Katie's Case Summary

    • 1445 Words
    • 6 Pages

    Katie is a 35-year-old professional woman, wife and mother of two small children. Katie was first introduced to pain medications after a car accident left her with an injured lower back. The pain medications she took, began a neurobiological response in Katie’s brain that she had no control over. Narcotics take aim at the brains reward system, saturating it with dopamine, giving the user a feeling of pleasure (“Drug Abuse, Addiction, and the Brain,” n.d. p. 2). Katie’s brain began to acclimate to the dopamine surges. Which in turn, the brain generates less dopamine and or decreases the dopamine receptors. This made Katie use more and more drugs, to continually try and attain the dopamine high (“Drug Abuse, Addiction, and the Brain,” n.d. p. 2) Brain imaging studies show that areas of the brain that regulate judgement, behavior control, learning and memory are affected by drug addiction. These changes create the abuser to seek out and take drugs compulsively (“Drug Abuse, Addiction, and the Brain,” n.d. p.1). This began Katie’s addiction to prescription pain medications.…

    • 1445 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Better Essays
  • Good Essays

    Addicts live in a world full of self-hatred and shame, and a multitude of these individuals do not want anyone to know the truth about their pain. Our textbook states that “ninety-five percent of untreated alcoholics die of alcoholism an average of 26 years early even if their death certificate might read they died of heart disease, cancer, or something else to protect the family, but the real reason they died is due to addiction” (Perkinson, 2012, p. 2). An individual’s repeated drug use causes long-lasting changes in their brain which causes long-lasting changes in their brain which causes the addict to lose voluntary control. The individual’s addiction is their only way of feeling normal which makes them feel hopeless, powerless, helpless,…

    • 849 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Powerful Essays

    For many years, individuals have battled substance abuse and addiction. My position comes from hearing about it, having seeing results from it, and reading about it, also developing my own thoughts about addiction. Weil and Rosen (1993) believe that a drug use (and addiction) results from humans longing for a sense of completeness and wholeness, and searching for satisfaction outside of themselves. McNeece and DiNitto (2012) says the reason why people continue to use drugs to the point of becoming a physically and/ or psychologically dependent on them are more complex, some have tried to explain this phenomenon as a deficit in moral values, a disease, conditioning or learned behavior, or as a genetic prosperity. Still some see it as a “rewiring” of the brain (Mc Neece & DiNitto, 2012). At this point, there is no one single theory that adequately explains addiction (McNeece & DiNitto, 2012).…

    • 1074 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Powerful Essays
  • Good Essays

    In Alice M. Young’s article, Addictive Drugs and the Brain, she suggests that an addiction to drugs may effect brain processes, such as learning and emotion. (1) (Young, Alice M. 1999. “Addictive Drugs and the Brain”) According to this article, when one “uses” heroin it travels through out the body and reaches the surface of the neurons. Heroin turns into morphine and can cause profound physiological or psychological changes in the brain.(2) (Young, Alice M. 1999. “Addictive Drugs and the Brain”) When talking about the psychological effects, drug addiction alters our ability to learn and remember…

    • 627 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Better Essays

    This chapter discusses the biological perspective on addiction. When looking at this perspective it is important to understand the biological causes of addiction, tolerance and withdrawal. The chapter discusses the different ways drugs can be administered and absorbed. Further it talks about the different ways drugs are metabolised and excreted and how drugs affect the central nervous system. Lastly it examines tolerance and withdrawal as understood from the biological perspective.…

    • 855 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Better Essays
  • Better Essays

    In order to better understand addiction as a disease as opposed to a moral dilemma it first must be broken down. First you must look at the way in which the chemicals affect the brain. The first attempt at partaking in any mind altering substance can be looked at as a choice to the individual. However what happens after that first time? Are you then in control of how much or how often the substance is introduced to the body? As the substance is consumed it begins to alter the way in which the brain controls our feelings; happy, sad, anger, depression, etc. The brain tries to compensate for the influx of chemicals by reducing the amount of dopamine (a simple organic chemical in the brain system that is responsible for reward-driven learning). Thus when the substance is no longer in the system you can experience extreme “lows” that directly relate to depression. The brain then tells the body that it needs more of the DOC (drug of choice) to make up for that loss. It can be argued that once the levels of dopamine have diminished in the brain the choice of whether or not to use the DOC has been lost. Subconsciously the individual will experience the phenomenon of “craving”. As stated by the National Institute on Drug Abuse, “The initial decision to take drugs is mostly voluntary. However, when drug abuse takes over, a person 's ability to exert self control can become seriously impaired. Brain imaging studies from drug-addicted individuals show physical changes in areas of the brain that are critical to judgment, decision-making, learning and memory, and…

    • 1063 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Better Essays
  • Good Essays

    The frontal cortex has become less effective at making decisions and judging the consequences of action. Also as addicts have learnt to associate the drug with pleasure, any attempts to stop taking it will be difficult as the addict will be surrounded by cues and reminders of the drug which would remind them of pleasure and make them more likely to relapse.…

    • 710 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Better Essays

    Addiction Paradox

    • 1090 Words
    • 5 Pages

    In the article The Addiction Paradox: Drug Dependence Has Two Faces - As A Chronic Disease And A Temporary Failure To Cope, the author talks about research that shows addiction as a disease or a temporary failure to cope. In the article Neurobiology Of Addiction Versus Drug Use Driven By Lack Of Choice, the authors talk about the study of neurobiology of addiction and how addiction and the different choices drug users can make. In the article New Medications For Drug Addiction Hiding In Glutamatergic Neuroplasticity, the authors talk about how addiction is needing more attention and they also talk about new treatment for addiction. In the article The Army Disease: Drug Addiction And The Civil War, the author talks about how addiction was a big problem during the civil war but in that time drug addiction was not fully understood.…

    • 1090 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Better Essays
  • Better Essays

    Motivation and the Brain

    • 1569 Words
    • 7 Pages

    Dopamine is a hormone and a very important neurotransmitter in the brain that is associated with pleasure and enjoyment. When dopamine is released into the nucleus accumbens dopamine will increase due to the affects from nicotine. Dopamine plays a very major role in addiction because it affects the brain process controlling the ability to experience pleasure. Endorphins are a type of chemical that blocks pain, and instead they produce…

    • 1569 Words
    • 7 Pages
    Better Essays
  • Better Essays

    Butelman, B., Leveron, O., Kreek, M., Schulessman, S., Yan, Y., (Oct., 2012). Opiate Addiction and Cocaine Addiction: Underlying Molecular Neurobiology and Genetics. The Journal of Clinical Investigation, 122(10), 3387-3389…

    • 1082 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Better Essays
  • Better Essays

    Nida Model Of Addiction

    • 1420 Words
    • 6 Pages

    Over 30 years of intensive research has taught us, and NIDA supports, that addiction is a disease of the brain. The NIDA defines drug addiction as "a brain disease characterized by compulsive, at many times uncontrollable, drug craving, seeking, and use that persists despite potentially devastating consequences. Due to controversy over the real definition of this disease, the official medical definition is shorter but shares the same defining factors the disease model proposes. According to…

    • 1420 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Better Essays
  • Better Essays

    Recovery and Relapse

    • 1435 Words
    • 6 Pages

    In order to understand about recovery, one must first understand about addiction. Drug addiction is thought to be a combination of both biological and psychological factors, including the Dopamine Theory (Pinel, 2007). The Dopamine Theory is one in which the hypothesis states that addicts have reduced dopamine levels when not using drugs, which makes it extremely difficult for them to stop using for any length of time (Pinel). There is much evidence supporting this theory, there is also evidence supporting the theory that sex and food also increase the release of dopamine in the brain as natural reinforcers. The neurotransmitters are constantly working in the brain, releasing their chemicals which are needed for healthy living. Too much of one of too little of one throws the body into an unbalance state, whether it is before or after drug use.…

    • 1435 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Better Essays
  • Powerful Essays

    NIDA Substance Abuse

    • 1565 Words
    • 7 Pages

    A substance abuse addiction can be described in many ways. The NIDA states that a “drug addiction is a chronic disease”. People abuse drugs despite the many consequences that it can have, especially changes in their brain. The start of any drug addictions begins with the use of taking drugs over time. After taking drugs for an extended period of time, it becomes a compulsive behavior that has major long-term affects on your brain function (NIDA, 2016).…

    • 1565 Words
    • 7 Pages
    Powerful Essays