How The Brain Effects Cocaine Dependent Individuals And Treatment

Cocaine’s mode of action has been shown to involve the dopamine receptors. This paper will discuss how cocaine affects dopamine receptors, the mode of addiction, how cocaine affects the frontal brain metabolic activities, as well as the role of excitatory amino acids in cocaine’s mechanism. I will also discuss how cocaine affects another system through its mechanism on the brain—the renin angiotensin system.

Discovering an effective pharmacotherapy for cocaine use disorder remains a top research priority nationally since there are currently no FDA approved medication for the treatment of cocaine dependence. While several classes of medications have shown some efficacy in some phase two clinical trials, none has been proven to show consistency and lasting efficacy. Recent progress in the understanding of the effect of cocaine on the

According to Dr. Nora D. Volkow in a Letter from the Director. She describes drug addiction as follows. “Drug addiction is a brain disease characterized by compulsive, at times uncontrollable drug craving, seeking, and use despite devastating consequences – behaviors that stem from drug induced changes in brain structure and function. These changes occur in some of the same brain areas that are disrupted in various other mental disorders”. This explanation implies that the drug addiction is something that cannot be helped. Some factors related to co-occurrence are genetic, brain chemistry, environmental and

In your post you are saying “A faster drug such as heroin and cocaine occupies enough brain receptors to produce psychoactive effect. It just slows the brain down.” I do agree on the drugs do it does slows the brain down and the side of effects are when it enter the brain heroin goes into morphine that is when binds to molecules on cell opioid receptors. The receptors are located in many areas of the brain and in the body and the opioid receptors are located in the brains stem too. That controls such as blood pressure, arousal, and respiration. Cocaine can prevent dopamine from recycling prevents dopamine from recycling and if you flood of dopamine ultimately it can disrupts normal brain communication and causes cocaine’s high, the short term

Cocaine is a stimulant. It affects the neurotransmitter called dopamine. In a normal situation dopamine is a response to pleasure; after the dopamine gets released it is then recycled back into the cell once dopamine has been recycled the feeling of pleasure go’s away. Cocaine is used to prevent dopamine from being recycled, and because it can no longer be recycled large amounts of dopamine build up between neutrons. These high amounts of dopamine disrupts normal brain activity leading to a high

“Can Neuroscience Improve Addiction Treatment and Policies?” is a research that focus in the causes and effects of drugs in the brain. There is not explanation or analyses in the probable social and cultural causes and effects for using a drug.

Neuroscience and psychology seem to have been working together to try to understand how and why certain behaviors transpire in a person’s personality, and what makes or motivates a person to do the things they do. One of the most analyzed wonders that mark motivation, the thought developments, and the social interaction, is the analysis of drug obsession. Through advance forms of scanning the brain with imaging equipment like positron emission tomography (PET) and functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) have advanced the knowledge of drug addiction and how the brain is affected (Volkow, Fowler, & Wang, 2003,para 2). This paper will examine the brain structures and functions, the influence of

No effective pharmacological therapy currently exists for treating cocaine dependence. Meini et al (2011) suggested that aripiprazole and ropinirole may be successful arbitrators. They therefore conducted a quantitative study in order to determine the safety, tolerability and the effects of these drugs on 28 patients. The patients each possessing cocaine dependence - were randomly chosen, given the drugs, and their conditions carefully controlled for 12 weeks. A diagnostic assessment was performed using the ICD-9-CM criteria and the Mini International Neuropsychiatric Interview. Three other tests were also administered at baseline and weekly throughout the study. These were: the Clinical Global Impression Scale, a Visual Analogue Scale that assessed craving, and a self-report survey that monitored patients' use of cocaine. Urinalysis was carried out three times per week in order to investigate existence of benzoylecgonine (indicating cocaine dependence).

In order to fully understand addiction, one must examine the pathways and circuits in the brain as well as the genetic attributions that form this type of behavior. It is important to note that addiction has various forms such as with substances (alcohol, tobacco, drugs) and behavioral addictions (food, sex, shopping). With the forms listed and the many other types of addiction that are out there, they all contribute to alterations in brain structure and function. This article focuses on a particular addiction- cocaine addiction- and how it impacts gene expression and neuronal function. Like other substances of abuse, cocaine users have behaviors that cause them to compulsively take the drug with a loss of control in amount. Even with

First of all this research paper will examine the history of cocaine, answer exactly who used it, effects of the drug and its addictive nature. People choose to write about cocaine so that others can clearly see and understand its historical origins and dangerous properties. Those who experiment with drugs should become aware of their dangerous effects and take caution. The more people that become knowledgeable about cocaine, the more they can protect themselves from seriously endangering themselves. Cocaine users that are seriously dependent on the drug can seek treatment and rehabilitate. Most cocaine users do not realize they have a problem until it becomes too late. Much like the alcoholic, a cocaine dependent’s body

For my research paper I chose the drug Cocaine as my research topic. "Cocaine delivers an intensity of pleasure - and despair - beyond the bounds of normal human experience. Probably very few people aspire to be drug addicts. But it happens, every day. Why? What is so good about a drug that can potentially destroy a person 's body? How does it work? What are its effects on the brain? Why is it so hard to quit? Cocaine (C17H21NO4) comes from the leaf of an Erythroxylon coca bush. It is a drug that affects the central nervous system. It causes feelings of euphoria, pleasure, increased energy and alertness. People under the influence of cocaine often do not feel the need for food or sleep. They also feel energetic and may talk a lot. However, depending on factors such as environment, dosage, and the manner in which the drug is taken, cocaine can have adverse effects such as violent, erratic behavior, dizziness, paranoia, insomnia, convulsions, and heart failure to name a few. Long- term effects of cocaine include, but are not limited to strokes, heart attacks, seizures, loss of memory, and decrease in learning capability (1). People may not always know the exact consequences of the drug they are taking; however, chances are that they do know that the drug is unhealthy for them. Schools across the country educate about the dangers of drug use and abuse through programs like D.A.R.E., television stations show anti-drug advertisements as a public service, and even city buses

One of the more dangerous aspects of cocaine abuse in the United States, is that its risk is often downplayed. All too often, people view cocaine as a harmless party drug, when nothing could be further from the truth.

Many behavioral treatments for cocaine addiction have proven to be effective in both residential and outpatient settings. Indeed, behavioral therapies are often the only available and effective treatments for many drug problems, including stimulant addictions. However, the integration of behavioral and pharmacological treatments may ultimately prove to be the most effective approach.

effects of Cocaine are liver, kidney and lung damage. Cocaine’s long term effects can also be

Cocaine is an illegal substance and is a powerful addictive stimulant that is derived from the Coca plant which is native to South America, most of the time it comes in a powder form to snort up the nose or inhaled as smoke, and the effects usually range from happiness, burst of energy, mental alertness, hypersensitivity of Sight, sound and touch and being irritable and extremely paranoid. Cocaine is a very appealing drug as its effects are quick and almost gives a person a sense of invincibility and enhances a person’s energy, and a person develops an attachment to the drug because it makes him/her feel good, and stops the withdrawals [1], also over time the person can become tolerant to it, hence why he would need more to lift himself up again as the come down would also get worse. Therefore driving a person to take more [1] .