DRUG EFFECTS ON BRAIN

Drug Effects on Brain

Drug Effects on Brain

Introduction

A drug is a chemical substance produced exogenously (outside of the body) that, when taken into the body, changes normal body functions. Psychologists are very interested in psychoactive drugs that change central nervous system (CNS; brain and spinal cord) activity, and thereby affect perception, thought, emotion, and behavior. Baker, et al (2006) mentions although people use many psychoactive drugs for acceptable medicinal reasons, this chapter focuses on those psychoactive drugs that people use primarily for recreational, nonmedicinal reasons (e.g., to feel good, be more alert, alter or avoid reality). An adult drinking alcohol to relax or smoking cigarettes to stop the jitters are examples of recreational use of licit (legal) drugs in this country, and smoking crack to feel euphoric or injecting heroin for the “rush” are examples of illicit (illegal) recreational drug use (Zimbardo, et al, 2008). Most of the information about how drugs make a person feel come from self-reports of licit and illicit users of drugs, whereas most of the data about how the body affects drugs and how drugs work in the brain comes from well-controlled experimental studies using nonhuman animals (Baker, et al, 2006). This paper discusses the effects of drug on brain in a concise and comprehensive way.

Drug Effects on Brain

With pills to treat everything from the symptoms of the common cold to the positive symptoms of schizophrenia, drug use is prevalent in the United States, and pharma ceuticals are a multibillion-dollar industry (Zimbardo, et al, 2008). Nonetheless, society sends mixed messages about drug use, with commercials warning against the evils of illicit drug use and advertisements offering wonder treatments in a “purple pill.” Drugs in and of themselves are not “evil,” but every drug can be misused and abused. Misuse generally refers to the deviation from instructions on the label of over-thecounter drugs or the doctor's instructions for prescription drugs (Baker, et al, 2006).

For example, taking more or fewer pills per dose or day, not using the drug the full time course as prescribed (e.g., antibiotics), using the drug past the expiration date, using the drug with other drugs (e.g., alcohol with barbiturates), or sharing prescriptions with others without a doctor's permission are all forms of drug misuse. Although most of these acts may not seem very serious, they all can lead to very dangerous, even deadly, consequences (e.g., alcohol with other drugs, especially other CNS depressants). Drug abuse, which also can occur with licit and illicit drugs, refers here to use of a psychoactive substance to the extent that it produces some sort of physical, cognitive, behavioral, or social impairment. Keep in mind, however, that the public often thinks of drug abuse as specific to illicit drugs like methamphetamine, cocaine, heroin, and LSD (lysergic acid diethylamide), even though alcohol, for example, is a licit drug that people can abuse (Jacobsen, et al, 2003). What follows is an introduction to the use, misuse, and abuse of psychoactive drugs and their effects on behavior, beginning ...