On September 2nd, 2015, Megan Slaker, a Bethany Lutheran College alumni, gave a speech on “Drug Memories” and the influences of perineuronal nets on such memories in Meyer Hall at Bethany Lutheran College. As I sat in the audience and listened to her speech, I learned that according to Slaker’s research, by destroying the perineuronal nets (PNN), the drug memories that play a crucial role in addiction are weakened. The weakened drug memories could possibly limit the withdrawal symptoms, thus making it easier to stop drug usage. Slaker’s speech was very informative and extremely effective. At the beginning of the speech, Slaker made some jokes about one of Bethany’s current professors and showed her audience pictures of her time at Bethany. By doing those things, Slaker made herself seem more relatable to her audience, who was mostly faculty and students of Bethany. Another way Slaker made her speech …show more content…
After all, the majority of her audience has not had an experience with cocaine, but being college students and faculty, they have drank caffeine before to wake themselves up. The last way Slaker related to her audience was by her presentation selection. By speaking about scientific information to science professors or college students with intentions to major in the sciences, Slaker automatically caught the attention of her audience. Slaker, by showing her audience statistics for the cost of addiction annually, lent herself logos. Her statistics showed the audience that she had a logical reason for conducting her experiment. Slaker lent herself ethos, or creditability, by simply being a graduate student at the University of Washington studying neuroscience. Also, Slaker fully explained the complicated medical terms, like pyramidal neurons and interneurons, that the audience
She used a stern yet eye opening tone throughout the whole speech. The was Quindlen worded siren line made it very apparent that she is trying to spark change. She was stern to get the point across and make people believe she knows what she is talking about and not some random person who doesn't know what they are talking about. The way she described the reason for change was very unique because everyone is always talking about change yet never had an solid ideas on how to do it. Quindlen did, she defined the issue then came up with a solution, I believe that this a big first step in her
She states many of her opinions on how the press should stop telling and spreading false events and ideas in the newspaper. When given the chance she tells her audience journalist about how the American press about her feels and how she feels challenged by them. Overall, the beginning of her speech tells the audience how she is going to state information and how they should listen to
The most commonly abused substances are Nicotine, Inhalants, Alcohol, Cocaine, Amphetamines, Prescription medications, Heroin, Ecstasy and Marijuana. 1a(National Institute on Drug Abuse, 2011) Initially, a person may find themselves using substances voluntarily and with confidence that they will be able to dictate their personal use. However, over the period of time that drug use is repeated, changes are taking place throughout the brain, whether it is functionally
Relapses and drug taking are both heavily influenced by similar factors such as the drugs neurochemistry, the user’s history, environment, and dose of the pharmacokinetics. After a period of abstinence or non-use the drugs reinstating is more often an initiation of more than one factor, namely; re-exposure to drug, stress, cues in the environment, priming of the drug to user. In the user’s mind, neurochemical responses are commonly induced through these factors, in that they create a craving by mimicking the drug and this in turn prevents reinstatement and desire to use the drug (McGovern, Xie, Segal, Siembab, & Drake, 2006).
In her first paragraphs, Talbot introduces a Harvard student by the name of "Alex". Alex is shown as a normal college student who wants to keep a balanced life between school and friends, but finds it challenging without the use of Adderall. Talbot goes on to explain that Alex got started on these drugs because he found "life to be impossible" to live without its use (para. 2). Alex's reliance on drugs was not the only personal account that Talbot brings up. In fact later in her article, Talbot brings up a business man by the name of Nicholas Seltzer. Talbot mentions that Seltzer had a different outlook for the use of the drugs than Alex did. She even marks to mention that Seltzer saw his habit as a "pursuit that aligns him with a larger movement for improving humanity"(para.12). By comparing the two personal interviewers, Talbot is able to connect to a more open audience and is able to prove her point with the use of these real life evidence. As more readers connect to these personal interviews the more they realize how the use of drugs has been increasing because they can connect to Talbots real life
In the TEDx Talk “The Magic of Not Giving a F***”, Sarah Knight guides the audience through her journey to living a carefree life where she is happy because as the title says she doesn’t “give a f***”. She does this by doing what she would prefer to do with her time and money, if there is an option to do so. She tells the audience her experiences and later goes on to teach and guide the audience through the process of not “giving a f***” or say no to things they don’t want to do in a polite and honest manner so that they too can live a carefree life like her if they so desire it. In a brief analysis of the different modes of persuasion, ethos, pathos, and logos her speech was very interesting and had many strong points; however, there were points throughout the speech that really did detract from the overall quality of the speech and potentially the affected the experience of the listeners as well.
In her article, Brain Gain: The Underground World of “Neuroenhancing” Drugs, Margaret Talbot discuss’ the use of different drugs like Adderall, to boost their productivity. She’s writing to people from college up to people who have 9 to 5 office jobs. She uses her essay to not be on one side or the other, but to analyze both points of view. She never puts in, or implies, that she has had a personal experience, and her background doesn’t give her much credibility to speak on the matter to people who already have an opinion on it themselves. Talbot uses anecdotes to…and she uses statistics. But her thesis strays away from what she was indicating about the drugs.
It is believed that certain individuals are predisposed or vulnerable to addiction based on biological, psychological and social influences. The euphoric high produced by many addictive substances is the result of overstimulation of the “pleasure center” of the brain. This is the same area that controls emotions, fear, self-control and overall feelings of wellness. The presence of these foreign chemicals creates a response that the brain will crave as soon as it fades. The brain’s chemistry works against its own health, as it rewires its decision making faculties around the primary goal of finding and taking more of the drug” (1). Many people mistakenly believe that psychological addiction is somehow less serious or real than physical addiction. The psychological aspects of addiction are much more challenging to repair and recover from than the physical addiction. Psychological addiction can last for years or even a lifetime.
From the beginning she pulls the readers attention, she uses a metaphor “Eventually being perfect day after day, year after year, became like always carrying a backpack filled with bricks on my back”(Quindlen, 296). This metaphor is the most significant part of her speech as she continues to refer to this metaphor throughout the speech. She uses this for the purpose of appealing to the audience in a meaningful, and personal way, creating a connection between her and the audience as most students, not only college students, can probably relate to the feeling of being heavily put down by something , not necessarily what she is talking about. Her use of pathos is what makes the speech so appealing and interesting, because she makes it so relatable and easy to understand.
An important part of overcoming the behaviors that go along with addiction is the creation of memories. Memories are created from the time we are born, we learn things about ourselves such as what makes us laugh or what makes us cry. A person may have a bad experience with a drug or alcohol and that memory stays with them. It could even deter them from trying it again or the person could be pressured into giving it one more try before they decide. Memories are actually “solid bits of protein imprinted on the brain as microscopic memory bumps called dendritic spines” (Inaba & Cohen, p. 2.12, 2011). When people use psychoactive drugs the memories are imprinted on the brain. These memories include, “where they got the drug, the reason they used it, and what feelings resulted” (Inaba & Cohen, 2011). These memories are problematic because they are
According to Drugabuse.gov, Drug addiction is defined as a chronic, relapsing brain disease that is characterized by compulsive drug seeking and use, despite harmful consequences. Addiction is viewed as brain disease due to the changes that are going on in the brain due to the usage of the drugs, so it alters the structure and how it regularly functions. However, after reading Maia Szalavitz book, “Unbroken Brain: A Revolutionary new way of understanding addiction (2016)”, she has a unique view of what brain addiction is and her experience with addiction. In her novel, she views addiction as a learning disorder, like in her case it started early on in her as a child learning to be addicted to other things that develop habits of pleasure, reaction that makes up their addiction. Her memoir is her personal experience with addiction with using reputable journals and study to convey her point on what her rollercoaster with addictions has been starting early on in early childhood.
Genetic factors, such as having a family history of drug abuse, has a major influence on the likelihood that someone will fall into a cycle of drug abuse and addiction (Volkow, 2007; Horvath et al., 2013). From a biological perspective, we address issues by attending to the underlying biological cause. Since we know that addiction can be influenced by chemical changes in the brain, we can combat it and prevent relapse by restoring brain chemistry through the use of medications, such as those that eliminate the pleasurable effects of drugs, and ideally through total abstinence from drugs (Horvath et al.,
Senator Elizabeth Warren has to make her speech shorter during the debate over Senator Jeff Sessions’ nomination over U.S. attorney general. Why did she have to cut the speech? Well, she read a 1986 letter by Coretta Scott King about the response to blacks’ voting rights. She read the entire eight page letter. Even though Warren was reading King’s comments about Sessions during the failed district court nomination, the Senate majority leader Mitch McConnell said that Warren violated Senate rules. He claimed she broke the rules for “impugning the motives” of Sessions. On Tuesday, Warren and the other democrats called McConnell's action questionable. The senators ruled in a 43- 50 vote that the she violated the rules. Speaking for a total of
Addiction is like all behaviours “the business of the brain”. Addictions are compulsive physical and psychological needs from habit-forming sustenances like nicotine, alcohol, and drugs. Being occupied with or involved in such activities, leads a person who uses them again and again to become tolerant and dependent eventually experiencing withdrawal. (Molintas, 2006).
Substance addiction can hugely impact on a person’s thinking, functioning and behaviour. Whilst depressant drugs such as alcohol and opioids slow down your central nervous system (CNS), stimulants such as cocaine or amphetamine increase the activity of the CNS, leading to higher blood pressure, heart rate and increased alertness. Repeated abuse of the substance leads to tolerance and withdrawal, in turn this leads to the user showing signs of irrational behaviour. Another form of substance abuse is hallucinogens; they can cause powerful changes in sensory perceptions. It works by binding to the serotonin receptors, these neurons control visual information and emotions, and this can lead to various effects on the user. Neurobiology can help us understand the reasons for addiction and the effects they have on us. Groman and Jentsch (2012) discuss key issues of differentiating the causes and consequences of addiction through neuroimaging and behavioural research on monkeys, they found that the dysfunction of the dopamine