Discuss The Biological Perspective Of Addiction

This chapter discusses the biological perspective on addiction. When looking at this perspective it is important to understand the biological causes of addiction, tolerance and withdrawal. The chapter discusses the different ways drugs can be administered and absorbed. Further it talks about the different ways drugs are metabolised and excreted and how drugs affect the central nervous system. Lastly it examines tolerance and withdrawal as understood from the biological perspective.
There are many different ways to administer drugs. Some are through injection or inhalation, orally or through mucous members. The way are drug is administered affects the speed with which the drug acts and the duration of the effects of the drug. While intravenous
It can either leave the bloodstream and be stored in different parts of the body or it will be metabolized. Overall less of the drug reaches the brain than had originally entered the body. Metabolism is the process of breaking down the drug in order to excrete it from the body. The most important organ for the metabolization of drugs being the liver. Drugs can be excreted from several different location in the body. Some drugs can be excreted over the lungs through exhalation while others are excreted through sweating, tears, urine or saliva. Most of the drug will be excreted through urine since we lose the most of our fluids through this. The kidney filters blood and through this filters out the metabolized drugs and forms them into urine to be excreted, therefore getting rid of the drug (Moss & Dyer,
People who are either very young or very old have a lesser ability to metabolize and excrete drugs, therefore they tend to have a higher concentration of drugs in their body compared to other individuals. Women also tend to have a higher drug concentration than men, a lot of the time due to their body composition of having less water and more fats present in the body. The genetics of a person can also play an important role, since inherited factor can alter the drug's effect (Moss & Dyer, 2010).
When a drug reaches the nervous system it can mimic a natural neurotransmitter and bond with a receptor, either acting as a agonist or an antagonist. Agonists work as neurotransmitters and activate the receptor. Antagonists bind to the receptors but do not activate them, keeping other things from binding with the receptor. Other natural neurotransmitters that play an important role in addiction are monoamines. The most important ones are dopamine, serotonin and noradrenaline. They act as a reward, reinforcing certain behaviours (Moss & Dyer,