What is Addiction?
Addictive Substances
ADDICTION- From Here to There
• I’m having fun with my
friends
• I’ll try it just once
• What’s the big deal
• I’m just experimenting
• I had a tough week, so
need to relax
• I can handle it
• I steal from my family
and friends
• I lie
• My life has no
direction
• I hurt myself
• I hurt others
• This affects every
relationship
• I can’t seem to stop
Regions of the Brain
• Each region of the brain is
responsible for activities vital to
living
• Brain stem – heart rate, breathing, eating,
sleeping (basics to sustain life)
• Cerebellum – movements, balance, and
posture
• Cerebral Hemisphere – the “thinking
center”/process language, math, strategies
Cerebral Cortex
• Divided into the right and
left hemispheres and is
2/3 the mass of the brain
• Most highly developed
part of the brain
• Responsible for thinking,
perceiving, and producing
and understanding
language
• Each area has a specific
function
KEY POINT > Why is that SO important?
(The Prefrontal cerebral cortex area is the)
“CONTROL CENTER” for LOGIC/JUDGMENT
=
A BIG PROBLEM FOR TEENS
because that part of your brain
MATURES LATER - early twenties
ENTER >Drugs
• They
are SO powerful
because they act directly on
this center and override the
cerebral cortex.
•They eliminate the most
human part of our brain from
its role in “controlling” our
behavior.
•Limbic System – (known as the “Reward Center”
is located deep within the cerebral cortex.
Made up of complex structures such as the following:
•
Hippocampus – memory
•
Thalamus – sensory perception
and regulation of motor functions
•
Hypothalamus – regulates
appetite, body temperature,
pituitary and adrenal gland
function.
Key points for teens
• MATURES EARLIER
• Major Role in emotional responses
IMPACT FOR TEENS
-make impulsive, emotional decisions
rather than,
carefully considered, logical choices
Nerve Cells and Neurotransmission
How we communicate messages!
• Brain is made up of billions of nerve
cells called neurons
– Cell body – directs all
activities of the neuron
– Dendrites – fibers that
receive messages from
other neurons and relay
them to the cell body
– Axon – long single fiber that
transmits messages from cell
body to dendrites of other
neurons =
Neurotransmission
• Axon Terminals – the
ends of the axon
Neurotransmission: Synapse
• Communication between brain nerve cells
does NOT occur through direct contact.
• As the message comes down the axon, there
is a release of chemical substances
(neurotransmitters)
into the NON-CONTACT space
S
between the axon terminals
and dendrites of another neuron Y
N
A
P
S
E
Neurotransmitters: Key and Lock
• There are specific receptors
on the ends of dendrites
(Locks) that have a very
specific matching
neurotransmitters (keys) that
can bind to it.
• When this happens, the
message carried by the
neurotransmitter is
received and processed by
the dendrite of the receiving
neuron
• This message is then relayed
to the cell body and then to
the axon, and so forth.
3 Types of Neurotransmitters
Serotonin
Dopamine
Epinephrine
Drugs can change how messages
are sent in these 3 ways
• They can act like neurotransmitters (faker)
• They can change the amount of neurotransmitters in
synapses (thief)
• They can block neurotransmitters
Key point
>drugs affect the way we
perceive and respond to the world around us.
http://foundation.methproject.or
g/Our-Work/brain-andbehavior.php
•
Examples of drugs doing this
All drugs that change …
the way the brain works
affect neurotransmission.
Ex: depression =low levels of serotonin
>Medication (prescribed drug) = tells the body
to increase serotonin
Other examples:
1. LSD, Ecstasy (fakers) act like the natural
neurotransmitter the body makes (similar size and
shape, so they fit the key/lock and send the
message)
2. PCP (a “road block”)
PCP
blocks receptors and
prevents messages from
getting through
and
3. Methamphetamine, Heroin
flip the switch faster!! (thief) causing large
amounts of neurotransmitters to be released at
once into the synapse (like a pump). This causes an
OVER-STIMULATION OF THE BRAIN SYNAPSE
with NO RECOVERY TIME. (BRAIN DISTRESS)
4. Cocaine,
marijuana, nicotine
interfere with the transporters responsible for
sending the neurotransmitters back into the neurons
that released them – therefore, they stay in the
synapse (unnatural flooding of neurotransmitters)
(creates depression later in life from low natural
levels)
= Brain can’t function normally
Drugs of Abuse
• If taken over long periods of time, drugs
can change feelings and behavior in the
user.
• All drugs that are addicting can activate the
brain’s “reward/pleasure center” causing
‘feel good” messages to travel from neuron
to neuron
The Brain’s Reward System
A.K.A. The Limbic System
• Used to reinforce healthy behaviors
– Examples: eating when hungry, drinking when thirsty
• To encourage the body to reinforce healthy
behaviors, the neurons release a neurotransmitter
called
DOPAMINE
• Drugs that turn on the brain’s reward system trick
the mind into believing that the drug is good for the
body.
• All drugs of abuse affect the brain’s reward
system by FLOODING the system with dopamine.
Quick Time™ and a
decompressor
are needed to s ee this picture.
http://video.about.com/alcoholism/Drug-Addiction.htm
To Review: What Happens if Someone
Keeps Using Drugs???
• With drug use, the brain starts changing
immediately as a result of the unnatural
flooding of neurotransmitters. The drug
changes the way the brain actually works.
How?
1 by reducing the number of dopamine
receptors
2 stopping the production of dopamine alltogether
3 actually killing some of the neurons
Permanent brain changes
• The result = low dopamine levels in the drug
abuser’s brain when not on the drug.
•
• Without drugs, the abuser feels flat, lifeless,
depressed, and unhappy.
• Brain says “ I NEED”
• Drugs are needed just to bring dopamine levels
back up to normal.
Permanent brain changes
The abuser is now:
DEPENDENT = the user needs the drug just to
function normally AND
ADDICTED =
The user can no longer control his or her drug use
because the brain has changed.
He/she becomes a compulsive user.
I AM AN ADDICT
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
I steal from my family and friends
I lie
My life has no direction
I hurt myself
I hurt others
This affects every relationship
I can’t seem to stop
ADDICTION IS…
• A condition in which a person no
longer controls his/her behavior.
• He/she desires to continue despite
the negative consequences
ADDICTION IS…
A chronic,
yet treatable
brain Dis-Ease.
Types of Dependence
• Body craving
– Physiological Dependence
• Mind Craving
– Psychological Dependence
Addictive process
the path to addiction
Experimental
Recovery
Situational
Relapse - why?
List 3 possible
reasons
Habitual
Addiction/Dependence
WHAT IS THIS?
Group discussion
Rock Bottom
Fill In
• Get a partner and try to fill in section 6
using the word bank. You have 2 minutes.
countdown
• online-stopwatch
Some Facts about Recovering
from Addiction
6
a. Rock bottom
will now seek treatment
Different for everyone
Some Facts about Recovering
from Addiction
6.
b. Interventionattempt to interrupt the addiction
continuum before one hits
Rock Bottom.
Some Facts about Recovering
from Addiction
6.
c. Abstinence
refraining from use
of a substance/behavior.
Some Facts about Recovering
from Addiction
6.
d.Detoxification
the process of removing the substance
from the body.
(abstinence, possibly aided by medication)
Some Facts about Recovering
from Addiction
6.
e. Relapse
during recovery, a user often returns
to the use of a substance (either the
original one or a substitute). This would
especially be true if not receiving
treatment for the causes of addiction.
Such as ????
Some Facts about Recovering
from Addiction
6.
f. Addicts in the last stages will
not recover without treatment.
Some Treatment Options
A. Counseling –
talk with a trusted individual,
preferably one knowledgeable
about addiction.
psychiatrist, psychologist
Some Treatment Options
B. Support Groups –a group of people who share a
common problem and work together to help one
another & themselves cope with and recover from
that problem. AA, psychiatrist, psychologist
also included in the following treatment centers
C. Alcohol & Drug Treatment Centers
Examples:
Irene Stacy GMHC,
Ellen O’Brien Gaiser Addiction Center,
Butler Regional Recovery Program
Detox Unit Inpatient/Residential Center Outpatient Center Halfway House Continuing Programs
Recovery
>THE PROCESS OF MAKING CHANGES
in Choices ,Thoughts, AND Behaviors
geared TO WELLNESS.
(a truck that has different
sources of air in all of its tires)
Unknown source of advice
• Fools do not learn from their mistakes and experiences.
• Smart people learn from their mistakes and experiences.
• Wise people learn from the mistakes and
experiences of others.
For More Information
NIDA Public Information Office:
301-443-1124
Or
www.nida.nih.gov
www.drugabuse.gov
National Clearinghouse on Alcohol and
Drug Information (NCADI):
1-800-729-6686
www.scholastic.com/headsup
www.drugabuse.gov