PSY 1101 Lecture Notes - Lecture 12: Caffeine, Psych, Methadone

• School: University of Ottawa
• Department: Psychology
• Course: PSY 1101
• Professor: Mark Dallas

Document Summary

Stages of body"s reaction to drugs: tolerance: brain adapts to offset the effect of the drug; as use is continued, more drug is needed to produce same results, dependence: 2 forms of dependence (both are involved) Psychological need - drugs reduce negative feelings: addiction: compulsive drug craving/use, despite negative effects. Neural pathways for drug tolerance: brain chemistry adapts to effect of drug (tolerance, nts in the brain are replaced by the artificial transmitters of the drug. Each drug focuses on a slightly different area of the brain and makes changes to the brain in some way: but for all, continued use of drugs = reduced number of dopamine receptors in brain"s reward system. Decrease neural activity and slows body functions: if these slow down too much, our body could stop functioning completely. Alcohol: enlivens drinker by slowing brain activity that controls judgments/inhibitions, slows sympathetic ns, disrupts rem sleep, reduces self-awareness and control, great source of revenue for government.