Acoustic Startle Response
Lack of Acoustic Startle Response and Drug Addiction
Amy L. Holmes
Liberty University
I. Abstract 3 II. Introduction 4 a. Stress 4 b. Psychoneuroimmunology (PNI) 4 c. Dopamine 5 III. Acoustic Startle Response Defined 5 IV. Drug Addiction Defined 5 V. Case Studies 6 a. Opiate addiction 6 b. Alcohol addiction 8 c. Detoxification as an early on-set marker 9 d. Cocaine 9 e. Genetics 11 VI. Conclusion 12
VII. References 14
Abstract
Addiction is a growing concern …show more content…
The foundation of psychological stress has been found to be based on the lack of control and predictability. Corticol levels in an individual will be raised due to the stress. This stress level can be associated with the lack of impulse control, which plays an important role in becoming addicted and staying addicted. Some stress can make the individual feel euphoria, but too much can leave the person feeling sick. An individual needs just enough stress in their lives to challenge their body without overloading their system. Psychological stress is not the only change that is going on in your body during pleasure seeking periods, dopamine levels are also changing. Like stress too little dopamine in your system can leave you feeling sick or depressed, but the right amounts can leave you feeling happy and excited. Researchers are also trying to see if the changes to the neuronal transmitters might also be playing a role in the addicted person’s lack of an acoustic startle …show more content…
American Psychiatric Association and the World Health Organization (as cited in Koob and Moal, 2001) discuss the definition and characteristics of drug addiction in that it is a chronically relapsing disorder that is characterized by two main characteristics: a need to take the drug as part of their day to day behavioral traits towards excessive drug intake, and a loss of control in limiting intake. Drugs that are abused affect the dopamine and opioid peptide networks on the cellular-membrane level. The dopamine network, in the midbrain, acts as the reward and motor system as well as in the higher-order functions, such as cognition and memory; whereas the opioid peptides help us with pain and emotional processing throughout the neuraxis. Constant change to the reward system leaves an individual’s allostatic state at a point where it can never achieve homeostasis and through this constant dysregulation causes repeated drug intake which turns into chronic drug intake which in turn exaggerates the individual’s allostatic
Amy L. Holmes
Liberty University
I. Abstract 3 II. Introduction 4 a. Stress 4 b. Psychoneuroimmunology (PNI) 4 c. Dopamine 5 III. Acoustic Startle Response Defined 5 IV. Drug Addiction Defined 5 V. Case Studies 6 a. Opiate addiction 6 b. Alcohol addiction 8 c. Detoxification as an early on-set marker 9 d. Cocaine 9 e. Genetics 11 VI. Conclusion 12
VII. References 14
Abstract
Addiction is a growing concern …show more content…
The foundation of psychological stress has been found to be based on the lack of control and predictability. Corticol levels in an individual will be raised due to the stress. This stress level can be associated with the lack of impulse control, which plays an important role in becoming addicted and staying addicted. Some stress can make the individual feel euphoria, but too much can leave the person feeling sick. An individual needs just enough stress in their lives to challenge their body without overloading their system. Psychological stress is not the only change that is going on in your body during pleasure seeking periods, dopamine levels are also changing. Like stress too little dopamine in your system can leave you feeling sick or depressed, but the right amounts can leave you feeling happy and excited. Researchers are also trying to see if the changes to the neuronal transmitters might also be playing a role in the addicted person’s lack of an acoustic startle …show more content…
American Psychiatric Association and the World Health Organization (as cited in Koob and Moal, 2001) discuss the definition and characteristics of drug addiction in that it is a chronically relapsing disorder that is characterized by two main characteristics: a need to take the drug as part of their day to day behavioral traits towards excessive drug intake, and a loss of control in limiting intake. Drugs that are abused affect the dopamine and opioid peptide networks on the cellular-membrane level. The dopamine network, in the midbrain, acts as the reward and motor system as well as in the higher-order functions, such as cognition and memory; whereas the opioid peptides help us with pain and emotional processing throughout the neuraxis. Constant change to the reward system leaves an individual’s allostatic state at a point where it can never achieve homeostasis and through this constant dysregulation causes repeated drug intake which turns into chronic drug intake which in turn exaggerates the individual’s allostatic