rat park

Addiction is a chronic brain disease that often results in some sort of relapse. Addiction is characterized by inability to control drug use which results in problems with one’s behaviors and interpersonal relationships. This disease causes compulsive behaviors such as the need to use drugs despite the many harmful consequences that affect the addicted individual and those around him or her. Although for most people, the initial decision to use drugs is a one time lapse in judgement, the brain is easily affected by these drugs if the person decides to use these drugs multiple times. The changes that occur to the brain over time will cause the addicted person’s ability to resist the intense impulses of drugs to be altered causing the addict to often give into the temptation of these drugs. Like other chronic diseases, addiction often involves cycles of relapse and remission. Without treatment or engagement in recovery activities, addiction is progressive and can result in disability or premature death. Drug addiction is an issue that many people deal with whether they are the addict or the addict is their loved one; but with a good source of support anyone can over come the challenges and consequences of addiction.

Alexander believed that there is nothing addictive about drugs and the even constant exposure to addictive drugs does not lead to problems. In experiments on rats, narcotics were proven to be addictive since rats would suffer pain just so they can fulfill their need for drugs. However, Alexander disagreed that the rodents became addicted because of the environment they were kept in. He believed that if the rodents were kept in an environment that was comfortable and happy, the rats would not care for the drugs. So he created a “happy” environment calling it “Rat Park”, a park for rats with enough space and clean water, so he can conduct perform a narcotics experiment.

The Radical Addiction The purpose of Bruce Alexander’s experiment was to challenge the beliefs that people have about addiction. He wanted to know if addiction was still a result even when a benevolent environment was present. He wanted to look at the affects social, physical and physiological restrains have on addiction. This experiment’s purpose was to show if addiction was due to the chemical or if it was culture.

It has become common wisdom to dismiss the Bruce Alexander work. However, Lauren Slater at the chapter Rat Park gives a quit unique and unexpected thought towards drug addicts. My whole life I heard it said that when more individuals get exposed to a drug the more addictive they become. (Slater) A few of physiologist have disclaimed and ignore Bruce Alexander’s experiment regarding drug addiction. The experiment was conducted with Mice, they were put first in a dirty and nasty cage, it turns out that the Mice on the dirty cage became extremely addicted. The Mice on another cage had a spectacular environment and the Mice refused to take the drugs. The concluded that marbles environments did not cause addiction instead it did

There was one major study that showed the impact of connection with addiction and recovery. The study knows as “Rat Park” was conducted by Bruce K. Alexander in the 1970’s. The article, Rat Park Substance Use Experiment explains the experiment. In this experiment, Professor Alexander studied whether continued drug addiction was completely a result of imbibing the substance, or whether there were outside factors contributing to addiction. Alexander took two groups of rats and put them in two different compartments. Half of the rats were placed in complete isolation. The other half were placed in a very large area that had walls painted to look like woodlands, and cedar shavings and tons of boxes for the rats to play in, pretty much giving the

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

As results of scientific research, we know that addiction is a disease that affects both the brain and behavior. A disease is an interruption, cessation, or disorder of a body system, or organ structure, or function; according to Stedman’s Medical Dictionary. (Sheff ,2013) cites, the disease od addiction has an etiologic agent, identified by a group of signs and symptoms or consistent anatomic alterations. There are significant changes in the brain. The American Society of Addiction Medicine (ASAM) states that addiction is a primary, chronic disease of brain reward motivation, memory and related circuitry. Dysfunction in these circuits leads to characteristics biological, psychological, social and spiritual manifestations. This is reflected in an individual pathology pursuing reward and /or relief by substance use and other behaviors. (Addiction is characterized by inability to consistently abstain, impairment of behavioral control, craving, diminished recognition of significant problems with one’s behaviors and interpersonal relationships and dysfunctional emotional responses. Like other chronic diseases, addiction often involves cycles of relapse, and remission. Without treatment or engagement in recovery activities, addiction is progressive and can result in disability or premature death. (ASAM Adopted as Policy, February

The article, “Rat Park,” is about a study about being addicted to drugs. In the article they talk about Alexander’s hypothesis that drugs do not cause addiction, but it's based on the living conditions a person is living in. The experiment was taken on rats, where some live caged in and and another set lived in the rat park. The experiment in the article shows, “. . . successfully showed that rats will resist even the most irresistibility delivered drug if it interferes with the alternatively gratifying opportunities available to them” (Slater). In the cage the rats would take the water with the drug, while in the rat park, the rats had the option to drink plain water or water with the drug. The rats who had the option of which type of liquid they want, would choose the liquid without the drug. Having this experiment done gave Alexander a conclusion about addiction. It states, “Alexander’s research suggests that addictions are in fact quite subject to free will” (Slater). The people studied on rats on how they are the type of animal are kind of close to humans, well on how they body system works. Every human has the right to be free, but are the humans really deciding base what they think is right.

In order to better understand addiction as a disease as opposed to a moral dilemma it first must be broken down. First you must look at the way in which the chemicals affect the brain. The first attempt at partaking in any mind altering substance can be looked at as a choice to the individual. However what happens after that first

Wise and Koob state that addiction begins with positive reinforcement, habits, a person feels the “high” of the habit, however, then the tolerance sets in which conditions the brain for negative reinforcements and one increases the use to enjoy the habit (2014). According to the National Institute on Drug Abuse (2012), drug addiction is a chronic brain disease. This disease is complex disease that is treatable, however it is a lifetime of treatment, sending many into relapses over and over again. The Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM-5)

To understand addiction further, it is important to look at how drugs have neurological effects in a human body. Drugs can be ingested in various ways; while some are taken orally, some are smoked (cannabis) while others are injected directly into the blood stream (Heroin). Once in the body, they mainly affect the reward pathway in the brain, known as the dopaminergic pathway, which in turn gives pleasure. Even though all drugs affect the reward and motivation pathways in the brain, their speed depends on the way the drug has been consumed. Over constant use of drugs, the cognitive functions are impaired as the effects become more prominent in learning, memory

According to Leshner (1998) at its core, addiction is actually a brain disease. There are many factors that come into consideration with addiction which are specific to each individual such as their physiological state, his or her genetics, environmental and societal situation, and how he or she is embedded into society comes together in the end. Some of these contributing factors can be controlled or modified in order to treat an addiction, while other cannot be modified such as genetics and some psychological states. These two key factors are those that researchers in both the medical and psychology fields have studied, to determine better treatment options as they can present a barrier in creating effective addiction management

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

Addiction can come in many forms, leading to a whole array of symptoms and consequences. Addiction can impact on a person’s wellbeing, behaviour, functioning and cognitions. We have the ability to use different kinds of methods in order to find out about questions on how addiction can form, animal studies can indicate how drugs may affect humans. There have been many major advances in sophistication and complexity of animal models of addiction showing us

They assume addicts lack moral principles or self-discipline and that they can quit by simply deciding to. The reality is, people who have struggled with substance abuse have often found it extremely difficult to quit due to the physical and/or mental addiction. Drug have the ability to change the brain patterns and cause health complications, making things harder in the long-term and may determine life or death. Fortunately, because of more research, there are more ways to back out of an addiction and seek help through an enduring and extensive treatment. Factors that affect the likelihood and speed of developing an addiction are environmental and individual factors, including genetics and