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Addiction is a brain disorder characterized by compulsive drug use despite adverse consequences. [36] [56] [57] [58] Addiction involves the overstimulation of the brain's mesocorticolimbic reward circuit (reward system), essential for motivating behaviors linked to survival and reproductive fitness, like seeking food and sex. [59]
An implicit premise in neuropsychopharmacology with regard to the psychological aspects is that all states of mind, including both normal and drug-induced altered states, and diseases involving mental or cognitive dysfunction, have a neurochemical basis at the fundamental level, and certain circuit pathways in the central nervous system at a higher level.
Neuroscientists believe that drug addicts’ behavior is a direct correlation to some physiological change in their brain, caused by using drugs. This view believes there is a bodily function in the brain causing the addiction. This is brought on by a change in the brain caused by brain damage or adaptation from chronic drug use. [1] [2]
The first letter of the drug morphine is m, rendered as the corresponding Greek letter μ. In similar manner, a drug known as ketocyclazocine was first shown to attach itself to "κ" (kappa) receptors, [27] while the "δ" (delta) receptor was named after the mouse vas deferens tissue in which the receptor was first characterised. [28]
In psychopharmacology, researchers are interested in any substance that crosses the blood–brain barrier and thus has an effect on behavior, mood, or cognition. Drugs are researched for their physiochemical properties, physical side effects, and psychological side effects.
“The brain changes, and it doesn’t recover when you just stop the drug because the brain has been actually changed,” Kreek explained. “The brain may get OK with time in some persons. But it’s hard to find a person who has completely normal brain function after a long cycle of opiate addiction, not without specific medication treatment.”
It's no secret that heroin, of the opioid drug family, is a dangerous epidemic in the United States. The number of U.S. deaths from heroin per year has spiked from roughly 3,000 in 2008 to roughly ...
Drug addiction, which belongs to the class of substance-related disorders, is a chronic and relapsing brain disorder that features drug seeking and drug abuse, despite their harmful effects. [28] This form of addiction changes brain circuitry such that the brain's reward system is compromised, [ 29 ] causing functional consequences for stress ...