Your Brain on Drugs

YOUR BRAIN - On Drugs - 10 3 Americans are addicted to alcohol or other drugs of people with addiction abuse alcohol How the Brain Registers Pleasure THE REWARD CIRCUIT IN THE BRAIN INCLUDES AREAS INVOLVED WITH MOTIVAȚION AND MEMORY AS WELL AS WITH PLE ASURE DOPAMINE IS RELEASED IN THE NUCLEUS ACCUMBENS (THE BRAI N'S PLEASURE CENTER) THE HIPPOCAMPUS PROVOKES MEMORIES OF THE RAPID SENSE OF SATISFACTION THE AMYGDALA CREATES A CONDITIONED RESPONSE TO CERTAIN STIMULI The Addicted Brain RATE OF ADDICTION Addictive drugs provide a shortcut to the brain's reward system by flooding the nucleus accumbens with dopamine, overloading it The rate of addiction has a direct relationship to the speed, intensity and reliability with which a drug releases dopamine Once overloaded, the brain responds by eliminating dopamine receptors, thus a drug has less impact on the brain's reward center. This is called tolerance: users need more to reach the same high RELEASE OF DOPAMINE Producing Pleasure DOPAMINE LEVELS FOOD SEX Addictive drugs release 2-10 x the amount of dopamine that natural rewards do, and they do it more quickly and more reliably COCAINE NATURAL REWARDS ADDICTIVE DRUGS METH NH2 When Compulsion Takes Over но он The memory of a drug causes a desire to recreate the effect Learned addiction: the brain forms connections between environmental cues and the desired substance Conditioned learning: even after years of abstinence, an addict risks relapse due to the lasting memory formed in their addicted brain Sources: http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2013/04/130415124710.htm http://www.helpguide.org/harvard/addiction_hijacks_brain.htm BESTREHABCOUNSELINGDEGREES.COM http://www.health.harvard.edu/newsweek/The_addicted_brain.htm http://www.drneurosci.com/currentissues/theaddictedbrain.pdf DEVELOPED BY N NOWSOURCING http://www.slideshare.net/jschwartz/the-physiology-of-addiction-february-2012 http://www.methinsideout.com/assets/MIO_Public_Service_Multi-Media_Kit.pdf