Please enable JavaScript.

Coggle requires JavaScript to display documents.

Adddiction, Risk factors, Explanation for Nicotine addiction: Brain…

- - - - When individual needs to continue to take the drug in order to feel 'normal' e.g: heroin/nicotine addicts
        
        Demonstrated as withdrawal symptoms if the person abstains from taking the drug
        
        Nature
        
        Withdrawal syndrome: Unpleasant physical symptom where the individual will feel uncomfortable if they try to stop taking the drug
        
        Individual will eventually return to taking the drug to avoid the unpleasant withdrawal syptoms (negative reinforcement)
        
        Physical dependence is followed by increased tolerance --> Individual will require more quantities of the drug to feel the rewarding effect
  - - - When drug/behaviour becomes a central part of the person's thoughts, emotions & everyday life
        
        Results in strong desire to want the drug
        
        Nature
        
        Psychological dependence can occur in non-physical addictions too
        
        e.g: Gamblers who are motivated by the thrill from winning money
        
        Cravings: An intense desire to repeat feelings/experience associated with the drug
        
        Characteristic of PHYSICAL & PSYCHOLOGICAL dependence
        
        Attempting to cut down/stop taking the drug will result in intense cravings
        
        1 more item...
- - - - They will need a larger dosage to feel the same effects as before
        
        Reasons for tolerance
        
        Enzymes:
        
        Prolonged use:
        
        Learned tolerance:
  - - - e.g: SIA: Shaking, Insomnia & loss of Appetite
      - Withdrawal symptoms: How the body reacts to drug absence
        
        Acute: Starts within first few hours
        
        Gradually resolves in a few weeks
        
        Characteristics
        
        Physical cravings are intense & persistent
        
        Post-acute: Can last months or years after drug cessation
        
        Characteristics
        
        Emotional & psychological turmoil
        
        Addicts brain will slowly rebalance itself
- - - - Inability to stop using substance/carrying out behaviour --> interfers with ability to function adequately
        
        Unpleasant withdrawal symptoms if they stop using the drug --> Person is now physically dependent on it
      - Individual will build up a tolerance to the drug --> more quantities is required to feel reward
- - - - Slutske (2010) interviewed 2,889 pairs of twins and gambling addiction
        
        MZ twins have a higher concordance rate (49%) than DZ twins (21%)
        
        Suggests that the more genetically similar the sibling was to their twin, the more likely the other would become a pathological gambler
    - - Those who are vulnerable to drug addiction have low levels of dopamine
        
        Less likely to have active dopamine receptors in the reward centre of the brain
        
        The drug increases the dopamine quantity --> individuals become more sensitive to the euphoric 'high' given by the drug
        
        Alcoholics showed that they are more likely to possess the A1 dopamine varient
        
        This varient is associated with decreased dopamine availability compared to non-alcoholics
        
        Alcohol therefore required to feel dopamine hit
    - - Gender differences
        
        Studies on male alcoholics show that there is a strong case for genetics in influencing addiction
        
        HOWEVER, female studies are more inconsistent --> only 2-4 adoption studies found a link between alcoholism in female adoptees & biological parents
        
        Suggests that genetic factors may be less important in development of alcoholism in females
        
        only 2/5 twin studies found a greater concordance rate amongst female MZ twins than DZ twins
      - Diathesis-stress model
        
        This explains why some people develop addictive behaviour and some don't even if they have the same environmental experiences
        
        Some people have a more predisposed genetic vulnerability to addiction
        
        e.g: Alcoholics & nicotine addicts have been found to have the A1 dopamine receptor gene
        
        HOWEVER,environmental trigger is still required to determine the nature of the addiciton
- - - - Impulsivity: behaving without thinking/considering the risks
        
        Impulsivity can contribute to pathalogical gambling & alcohol abuse
        
        Addiction & personality disorders
        
        Anti-social personality disorder or borderline personality disorder
        
        found in 44% of alcoholics and 70% cocaine addicts
        
        91% of polysubstance abusers (multiple drugs) had a personality disorder
        
        Addiction prone personality
        
        Barnes (2000) developed the APP scale which could predict if someone was likely to become an addict
        
        Found that personality was a strong predictor of marijuana use
        
        AO3
        
        Impulsivity
        
        Longitudinal studies showed that teenagers who progressed to heavier levels of alcohol abuse tended to score high on scores for impulsivity
        
        Others found that ⬆️impulsivity = ⬆️ mortality risk
        
        1 more item...
        
        Practical application
        
        Barnes (2000) supports the idea that personality is a key predictor of substance abuse
        
        Implications: Identifying vulnerable adults in advance can help prevent them from becoming addicts
        
        1 more item...
- - - - Self-medication Model
        
        Suggests that people use pathalogical behaviour to 'treat' the symptoms they experience from everyday stress
        
        Stress is one of the biggest predictors of relapse
      - Traumatic Stress
        
        People that experience severe stress are more vulnerable to addicitons --> used to cope with stress
        
        Research on US soldiers from the Vietnam war showed that half (1/2) of all soldiers used opium or heroin while on duty
        
        20% showed signs of physical and/or psychological dependence
      - AO3
        
        Coping --> abstinence
        
        People who develop effective coping strategies for stress have less of a need for addictive drugs/behaviour
        
        Research was done on 293 smokers who had completed a quitting progamme
        
        There was a strong relationship between use of stress coping resources (e.g: problem-solving, self-confidence) & ptts ability to maintain abstinence once they had quit
        
        Role of stress varies
        
        It's well known that stress is a significant predictor of relapse
        
        HOWEVER, in other forms of addiction, the role of stress is less convincing
        
        Arevalo (2008) interviewed 393 women who were in substance abuse programmes
        
        He found no link between stress & alcohol addiction
- - - - Social Learning Theory suggests that we learn through observing a role model (e.g: parnets)
        
        Then we imitate their actions
        
        Interviews with gamblers suggests that knowledge was passed on from watching/hearing family members talk about gambling
        
        Parents act as social models to their children
        
        Reith & Dobbie (2011) found that gambling behaviour was passed on to children from parents
        
        Influence was also gender specific --> Determined type of gambling behaviour
        
        1 more item...
        
        e.g: teens with substance abusing parents are MORE likely to be addicts themselves
    - - Research shows behaviour of the older sibling is linked to younger sibling's substance abuse
        
        Sample of high school students in US showed that sibling alcohol use was a bigger influencer than parental alcohol use
        
        Older siblings acted as role models who 'normalise' use of these substances
        
        They model to the younger siblings that it is appropriate to use these substances
        
        When the younger sibling engages in these behaviours, they 'validate' their older sibling's behaviour
  - - - Tajfel (1986) developed Social Identity Theory
        
        Suggests that an individual's self-concept is formed as a result of the groups they are a part of
        
        Being in a group makes you feel superior & increases self-esteem (normative social influence)
        
        People adopt the behaviours of the group to show loyalty e.g: smoking cigarettes
        
        Social networks
        
        Research shows that teenage smokers will befriend other smokers
        
        2 more items...
  - - - Support: Lack of parental input
        
        Substance abuse in teens could be due to withdrawal of parental involvment
        
        Stattin (2000) suggests that parents who do NOT monitor their children's drug use may indirectly encourage them to disclose (tell) too much info about their substance abuse
        
        Children tell parents about their substance abuse
        
        Parents may feel overwhelmed and unable to deal with the problem --> they percieve their children to be already beyond their control
        
        Lack of parental control --> Teenager continues to abuse & become more vulnerable to peer influences
      - Weakness: Interventions ignore siblings
        
        Interventions that are typically used to tackle abuse in teens only focus on parents, not siblings
        
        Feinberg (2012) suggests that siblings are more likely to engage in anti-social & substance abuse behaviours than parents
        
        Siblings are therefore the main source of influence
    - - Support: Social media
        
        Litt & Stock (2011) found that teens who viewed peers Facebook profiles which showed alcohol use were more likely to start drinking too
        
        The teenagers said that they were more willing to drink alcohol
        
        They had greater positive feelings towards alcohol and were less concerned with the risks
        
        The research concludes that social media exposure helped to alter teens' normative perceptions & risk cognitions towards alcohol
      - Peer influence overstated
        
        Research challenges claim that peer influences are a vital part of addiciton process
        
        Da Vries (2006) suggests that smokers befriend other smokers RATHER than people influencing peers to smoke
        
        ⬆️⬆️ See Social Networks ⬆️⬆️
        
        His study showed that parental smoking behaviour was a stronger predictor of smoking than peer influences
- - - - Glutamate
        
        Nucleus Accumbens (NAc)
        
        Dopamine