Drug Use And Motivation Essay
Motivation and the Brain in Refraining From Drug Use
Neuroscience and psychology have been working hand in hand for some time now to determine why and how behaviors occur in human personality, and what motivates individuals to do what they do. Perhaps one of the most studied phenomena that affects motivation, the thought processes, and social interactivity, is the study of drug addiction. The study of drug addiction has benefited greatly from advances in scanning and imaging technology such as positron emission tomography (PET) and functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) (Volkow, Fowler, and
Wang, 2003). Through the course of this paper, we shall look at brain structures and functions most affected in drug addicted individuals, extrinsic and …show more content…
However, drug addiction is the ultimate example of a biobehavioral disorder comprising of both biological and behavioral components. Research is quickly finding a plethora of cellular and molecular changes in brain structure caused by drug abuse and that many of these are common to all chemical addictions, including non-drug addictions such as pathological overeating (Leshner, 2007).
Environment plays a key factor in an addicts recovery. Dennis and Scott found that patients who experienced higher levels of substance use and also had environmental obstacles in recovery, such as other individuals using drugs in the home of the addict, were far less likely to succeed in recovery. Further, an addict who has just begun recovery is far more likely to relapse early in the recovery period due to reintroduction to an environment that may include friends and individuals that continue to use or deal drugs (Dennis & Scott, 2007).
Environmental cues that occurred during periods of drug use become paired in time with the drug use itself, and become difficult for he addict to differentiate. During recovery, these cues are still associated via classical conditioning with drug use and therefore elicit
Neuroscience and psychology have been working hand in hand for some time now to determine why and how behaviors occur in human personality, and what motivates individuals to do what they do. Perhaps one of the most studied phenomena that affects motivation, the thought processes, and social interactivity, is the study of drug addiction. The study of drug addiction has benefited greatly from advances in scanning and imaging technology such as positron emission tomography (PET) and functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) (Volkow, Fowler, and
Wang, 2003). Through the course of this paper, we shall look at brain structures and functions most affected in drug addicted individuals, extrinsic and …show more content…
However, drug addiction is the ultimate example of a biobehavioral disorder comprising of both biological and behavioral components. Research is quickly finding a plethora of cellular and molecular changes in brain structure caused by drug abuse and that many of these are common to all chemical addictions, including non-drug addictions such as pathological overeating (Leshner, 2007).
Environment plays a key factor in an addicts recovery. Dennis and Scott found that patients who experienced higher levels of substance use and also had environmental obstacles in recovery, such as other individuals using drugs in the home of the addict, were far less likely to succeed in recovery. Further, an addict who has just begun recovery is far more likely to relapse early in the recovery period due to reintroduction to an environment that may include friends and individuals that continue to use or deal drugs (Dennis & Scott, 2007).
Environmental cues that occurred during periods of drug use become paired in time with the drug use itself, and become difficult for he addict to differentiate. During recovery, these cues are still associated via classical conditioning with drug use and therefore elicit