Dopamine Reward Pathway Among Obese Individuals And Drug Addicts

Never losing and never missing a shot is a day to day life of Nike & Artemis. Nike being the goddess of victory never lost. Artemis on the other hand was a very different goddess she hated being compared to, and very short tempered. Here are their lives, family, and problems.

Unit 7 Study Guide All test questions are derived from the key terms list and the questions on this study guide. QUESTIONS FROM PAST UNITS WILL ALSO BE ON THIS TEST. 1. What was the purpose of the Civil War for: The North/Union?

This research paper will evaluate the biological aspects of addictive substance or behavior and how it affects the brain and organs. Biological aspects include dopamine levels that are replaced in the brain due to the reward system being overtaken and the absorption rate of the drug once it is ingested will be discussed. The biological aspects are extensive and permanent if the individual does not get the help they need. Furthermore the clinical issues of addictive substance or behavior will be discussed along with medical treatments and ethical issues. This includes treatments such as counseling

According to the biological perspective, drug use may start off as casual, but through continued use, it produces changes in the brain that influences the onset and maintenance of drug addiction. (Horvath et al., 2013). Drugs have their most prominent effects on the function of neurotransmitters. Almost all major drugs of abuse activate the reward system and cause a flood in the levels of dopamine which is a neurotransmitter that is involved in pleasure. As a result, not only do people learn to associate drug use with pleasure, but the brain also starts to reduce its own natural dopamine production in adjustment to the levels of dopamine produced by the drugs. This is called tolerance, and the consequences of tolerance are highly influential

The addictive properties of cocaine are a dopamine D2-receptor researchers “indicate that these dopaminergic neural systems play an important part in rewarding effects” (Miller, Gold, Smith, 1997, p.64).

Across all addictions, there is a central theory as to how such an addiction can occur. The common mechanism of all addictive substances is the activation of the brain’s “reward system”, made up of dopaminergic neurons of the midbrain and their extensions to the limbic system (http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3272277/). This system is normally used in advancing evolutionary fitness promoting activity, such as sex, food, or social interactions (http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3272277/). In such normal natural behaviors, the reward system activity is relatively brief and weak. However, addictive substances abuse the system’s circuitry, causing

The complexity of the human brain creates mystery when determining the influence of neurophysiological factors and their role in the process of addiction. There is a proposed relationship between drug addiction and the mesolimbic dopamine system, with the mesolimbic pathway from the ventral tegmental area to the nucleus accumbens considered the ‘reward centre’ of the human brain (Alcohol Rehab, 2011). A release of dopamine is necessary for ‘reward’ which is hypothesised to initiate the addiction cycle by providing positive reinforcement for drug self-administration (Feltenstein & See, 2009). Methamphetamine triggers the release of dopamine from synaptic vesicles which flood the synaptic cleft activating feelings of euphoria, well-being

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

Prior to all of the scientific knowledge that was discovered about drug usage in the United States in the late 20th century, many Americans had an extremely negative connotation about drug users; this stigmatization continues to occur today. Today, many scientists who study addiction and its effects on the human body have come to the realization that a myriad of people cannot control themselves when it comes to stop being addicted. During the TED Talk, prominent neurologist and Director of the National Institute of on Drug Abuse at the National Institutes of Health (NIH) Nora Volkow discusses the parallels of addiction in drug users and addiction in obese individuals.

According to 2009-2010 National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey, more than two thirds of US adults are overweight or obese1 generating an estimated health care cost of $150 billion2. Increasing obesity prevalence may be attributed to a decrease in energy expenditure and an increase in intake of foods rich in sugar and fat, increase in snacking prevalence and energy density of snacks consumed3. Feeding is a complex behavior involving the integration of physiological energy needs and the pleasure derived from food consumption. Hypothalamic centers regulate energy-need based feeding, whereas the consumption of palatable foods, such as foods rich in fat and sugar, is regulated by the mesolimbic dopamine (DA) system. The two

79). Overall, this is a problem, because there continues to be a lack of the public endorsement and support of those seeking treatment regardless of the addiction. Individuals suffer with addictive behaviors for many reasons that include genetic factors. These things are uncontrollable and are harder to be prevented. Inaba and Cohen (2014) stated, “One of the genes that signals a susceptibility to compulsive overreaction” (p. 7.47). The new definition of addiction non/substance and behavior is now based on the psychoactive drugs and certain behaviors that produce the surge of dopamine in the midbrain are biological substrate for addictive behavior (Smith, 2012). Overall, it is important to include all addictive behaviors and substance abuse when diagnosing individuals. It is more important to treat all conditions or addictions than it is to assume that it is not as an important or one is more problematic than one or the

In the article “Dopamine and Teenage Logic” by Daniel Siegel he states that “Dopamine is a neurotransmitter central in creating our drive for reward” (Source B). This indicates that dopamine is one of the key causes of risk-taking. Teens often take risks because they are focused on the reward they get after they take it, rather than what would actually happen to them during and after they take the risk. There are two significant ways that dopamine affects our brains; increased impulsiveness, and the susceptibility to addiction by the release of dopamine.

“The overstimulation of this reward system, which normally responds to natural behaviors linked to survival (eating, spending time with loved ones, etc.), produces euphoric effects in response to psychoactive drugs. This reaction sets in motion a reinforcing pattern that “teaches” people to repeat the rewarding behavior of abusing drugs ”(“Understanding Drug Abuse). Using addictive drugs floods the limbic brain with dopamine, taking it up to as much as five or ten times the normal level. A person with elevated dopamine levels now has a brain that begins to associate the substance with an outside neurochemical reward (“Your Brain on Drugs”). As a person continues to abuse drugs, the brain adapts to the overwhelming surges in dopamine by producing less dopamine or by reducing the number of dopamine receptors in the reward circuit. The result is a lessening of dopamine’s impact on the reward circuit, which reduces the abuser’s ability to enjoy the drugs, as well as the events in life that previously brought pleasure. The decrease in normal dopamine levels encourages the addict to keep abusing drugs in an attempt to bring the dopamine function back to normal, except now larger amounts of the drug are required to achieve the same dopamine high, an effect known as tolerance (“Understanding Drug Abuse ). That is what leads to the state of addiction, which leaves the person in a cycle of craving, using, withdrawal, and relapse.

The disease model: This theory states that an individual who abuses drugs requires medical treatment rather than moral punishment or exhortation. This theory also justifies spending money to research substance abuse in the same way that money is spent to research other diseases. However, usually the term disease is reserved for a state in which we can identify an abnormal biochemical or physical condition. No abnormal biochemical or physical condition has been found in the case of substance addiction, although mounting evidence suggests that some individuals are genetically predisposed to addiction more so than others. Nevertheless, this theory continues to appeal to researchers, and an intensive effort is always being made to identify the physiological “switch” that establishes addiction after exposure to a drug (Lee, 2010).

“Religion in Nineteenth-Century America” written by Grant Wacker, is the second section in the book Religion in American Life: A Shorty History by authors Jon Butler, Grant Wacker, and Randall Balmer. Grant Wacker, is a professor of Christian History at Duke Divinity School who is considered an expert in the field. This work presents the religious climate of the nineteenth century in America. Wacker sets out to inform his readers about the everchanging religious climate that occupied the people and society of America. In these stories, Wacker illustrates the many changes surrounding the religious culture by the people, society, and government in America. The major argument of this work suggests “as the eighteenth-century slipped into the nineteenth, thousands of Americans drifted from traditional Christianity simply because it no longer met their needs”. Moreover, Wacker implies “that in the nineteenth-century many Americans, of diverse religious heritages, looked steadily and creatively to the past to find resources for the present and hope for the future”. In this case, the population of America found ways to redirect their focus on and understood the importance of reinventing or reforming the ideals of the past to reflect their needs of the present for its people and society as a whole. “Religion in Nineteenth-Century America” emphasized that religion remained central to some people and its society throughout the past, yet continued through the nineteenth century. While