ZeePedia

ALCOHOLISM AND SUBSTANCE RELATED DISORDERS:Poly Drug Use

<< PERSONALITY DISORDERS:Paranoid Personality, Schizoid Personality, The Diagnosis
ALCOHOLISM AND SUBSTANCE RELATED DISORDERS:Integrated Systems >>
img
Abnormal Psychology ­ PSY404
VU
Lesson 36
ALCOHOLISM AND SUBSTANCE RELATED DISORDERS
Recap of Previous Lecture
Personality refers to enduring patterns of thinking and behavior that define the person and distinguish
him or her from other people. These enduring patterns are ways of expressing emotion as well as
patterns of thinking about ourselves and other people. When enduring patterns of behavior and
emotion bring the person into repeated conflict with others, and when they prevent the person from
maintaining close relationships with others, an individual's personality may be considered disordered.
The authors of DSM-IV-TR have organized ten specific forms of personality disorder into three
clusters on the basis of broadly defined characteristics.
Classification of Personality Disorders
1-Paranoid personality disorder
2-Schizoid personality disorder
3-Schizotypal personality disorder
4-Antisocial personality disorder
5-Borderline personality disorder
6-Histrionic personality disorder
7-Narcissistic personality disorder
8-Avoidant personality disorder
9-dependent personality disorder
10-Obsessive­compulsive personality disorder
176
img
Abnormal Psychology ­ PSY404
VU
ALCOHOLISM AND SUBSTANCE RELATED DISORDERS
Examples
·  We take aspirin to reduce headache.
·  We take an antibiotic to fight an infection.
·  We take tranquilizer to calm us after facing a trauma.
·  We drink coffee or tea to get going in the morning.
·  Smoke a cigarette to relax our nerves.
·  We take valium to go to sleep.
There are many substances that are capable of harming the body or adversely affecting the behavior and
mood. The misuse of drugs has become one of the most disabling problems of the society.
Examples
·  Sherlock Holmes fictional character who took drugs stimulants to alert him.
·  Sportsmen take drugs to enhance their performance but in the long run their body develops drug
dependence.
The term drug applies to any substance other than food that changes our bodily and mental functioning.
Drug misuse may lead to a temporary mental syndrome such as intoxication but chronic excessive use of
drugs can lead to a substance use disorder.
Substance use disorder can take two forms
1- Substance abuse
2- Substance dependence
1- Substance Abuse
A pattern in which people rely heavily on a drug and they structure their lives around the drug.
2- Substance Dependence
In which people show all symptoms of substance abuse plus physical dependence on the drug.
Drug Addiction
·  Drug addiction is in which people show all symptoms of substance abuse plus physical dependence
on the drug.
·  But now we use the term substance dependence and not addiction.
Drug Tolerance
·  People who need increased doses of drug in order to get its effect.
·  Withdrawal symptoms emerge when individual suddenly stops taking drugs or reduces their
dosage.
·  These symptoms include muscle aches, pains and cramps, vomiting, nausea.
·
It is believed that approximately 7 % of all adults in United States currently display some form of
substance use disorder.
Poly Drug Use
When an individual uses two or more drugs at the same time we label it as poly drug use.
Cross Tolerance
·  When people take more than one drug at a time and the drugs interact with each other. Some time
the two drugs display cross tolerance
177
img
Abnormal Psychology ­ PSY404
VU
·
Cross tolerance is that the drugs act similarly on the brain and taking one drug will affect person's
tolerance for the other.
Synergistic Effect
When different drugs enhance each other's effect, they have a combined impact known as a synergistic
effect.
The drugs that we will focus in this chapter fall into three categories
1- Depressants are substances which slow the activity of central nervous system they include.
The important depressants are
·  Alcohol
·  Sedative-Hypnotic drugs
·  Opioids
2- Stimulants are substances that increase the activity of the central nervous system, resulting in the
increased blood pressure, heart rate, intensified activity, thought processes and alertness.
The important stimulants are
·  Cocaine
·  Amphetamines
·  Nicotine
·  Caffeine
3- Hallucinogens are substances that cause changes primarily in sensory perception. They include
·  LSD
·  Cannabis drugs
The explanation for drug abuse can be done by using four perspectives
1- Biological
2- Psychodynamic
3- Behavioral
4- Socio-cultural
The biological view or perspective suggests that people inherit a predisposition to drug addiction based on
their research of twin and adoptee studies.
The psycho dynamic perspective view that people who turn to drugs have an inordinate dependency needs
and they turn to drugs.
Behavioral perspective suggests that drug use is reinforced because it reduces tension and raises spirits.
Socio-cultural perspective suggests that the people most likely to develop a pattern of drug abuse are those
where societies create stress and their families tolerate drug abuse.
Treatment for Substance Abuse Disorders
Treatment for substance abuse disorders include
1- Insight therapy
2- Aversive therapy
3- Behavioral self control training
4- Relapse prevention training
5- Self help groups
6- Therapeutic communities
178
img
Abnormal Psychology ­ PSY404
VU
The goals of treatment for substance use disorders are a matter of controversy. Some clinicians believe
that the only acceptable goal is total absence from drinking or drug use. Others have argued that, for
some people, a more reasonable goal is the moderate use of legal drugs.
Detoxification
·  Alcoholism and related forms of drug abuse are chronic conditions.
·  Treatment is typically accomplished in a sequence of stages, beginning with a brief period of
detoxification--the removal of a drug on which a person has become dependent--for 3 to 6
weeks.
Medications
·  Following the process of detoxification, treatment efforts are aimed at helping the person maintain
a state of remission.
·  Several forms of medication are used to help the person refrain from drinking.
Self-Help Groups: Alcoholics Anonymous
·  Alcoholics Anonymous (AA) is maintained by alcohol abusers for the sole purpose of helping other
people who abuse alcohol become and remain sober.
·  AA is not officially associated with any other form of treatment or professional organization.
·  The viewpoint espoused by AA is fundamentally spiritual in nature.
·  DSM-IV-TR uses two terms to describe substance use disorders, and these terms reflect different
levels of severity.
Substance Dependence, the more severe of the two forms, refers to a pattern of repeated self-
administration that often results in tolerance, the need for increased amounts of the drug to achieve
intoxication; withdrawal, unpleasant physical and psychological effects that the person experiences
when he or she tries to stop taking the drug; and compulsive drug-taking behavior.
Substance Abuse describes a more broadly conceived, less severe pattern of drug use that is defined in
terms of interference with the person's ability to fulfill major role obligations at work or at home, the
recurrent use of a drug in dangerous situations, and repeated legal difficulties associated with drug use.
Addiction is another, older term that is often used to describe problems such as alcoholism.
The term has been replaced in official terminology by the term substance dependence, with which it is
synonymous, but it is still used informally by many lay people.
A drug of abuse, sometimes called a psychoactive substance, is a chemical substance that alters a
person's mood, level of perception, or brain functioning.
People with a substance use disorder frequently abuse several types of drugs; this condition is known as
poly-substance abuse.
Alcohol
·  Alcohol affects virtually every organ and system in the body.
·  After alcohol has been ingested, it is absorbed through membranes in the stomach, small intestine,
and colon.
·  The rate at which it is absorbed is influenced by many variables, including the concentration of
alcohol in the beverage, the volume and rate of consumption, and the presence of food in the
digestive system.
·  After it is absorbed, alcohol is distributed to all the body's organ systems.
·  Almost all the alcohol that a person consumes is eventually broken down or metabolized in the
liver.
·  If the person's consumption rate exceeds this metabolic limit, then blood alcohol levels will rise.
·  Blood alcohol levels are measured in terms of the amount of alcohol per unit of blood.
179
img
Abnormal Psychology ­ PSY404
VU
·
According to DSM-IV-TR, the symptoms of alcohol intoxication include slurred speech, lack of
coordination, an unsteady gait, nystagmus (involuntary to-and-fro movement of the eyeballs
induced when the person looks upward or to the side), impaired attention or memory, and stupor
or coma.
·
The prolonged use and abuse of alcohol can have a devastating impact on many areas of a person's
life.
·
1-The disruption of relationships with family and friends can be especially painful.
·
2-Regular heavy use of alcohol is also likely to interfere with job performance.
·
3-Many heavy drinkers encounter problems with legal authorities.
·
On a biological level, prolonged exposure to high levels of alcohol can disrupt the functions of
several important organ systems, especially the liver, pancreas, gastrointestinal system,
cardiovascular system, and endocrine system.
·
In fact, over an extended period of time, alcohol dependence has more negative health
consequences than abuse of any other drug, with the exception of nicotine. The misuse of alcohol
leads to an enormous number of severe injuries and premature deaths in every region of the world.
180
Table of Contents:
  1. ABNORMAL PSYCHOLOGY:PSYCHOSIS, Team approach in psychology
  2. WHAT IS ABNORMAL BEHAVIOR:Dysfunction, Distress, Danger
  3. PSYCHOPATHOLOGY IN HISTORICAL CONTEXT:Supernatural Model, Biological Model
  4. PSYCHOPATHOLOGY IN HISTORICAL CONTEXT:Free association, Dream analysis
  5. PSYCHOPATHOLOGY IN HISTORICAL CONTEXT:Humanistic Model, Classical Conditioning
  6. RESEARCH METHODS:To Read Research, To Evaluate Research, To increase marketability
  7. RESEARCH DESIGNS:Types of Variables, Confounding variables or extraneous
  8. EXPERIMENTAL REASEARCH DESIGNS:Control Groups, Placebo Control Groups
  9. GENETICS:Adoption Studies, Twin Studies, Sequential Design, Follow back studies
  10. RESEARCH ETHICS:Approval for the research project, Risk, Consent
  11. CAUSES OF ABNORMAL BEHAVIOR:Biological Dimensions
  12. THE STRUCTURE OF BRAIN:Peripheral Nervous System, Psychoanalytic Model
  13. CAUSES OF PSYCHOPATHOLOGY:Biomedical Model, Humanistic model
  14. CAUSES OF ABNORMAL BEHAVIOR ETIOLOGICAL FACTORS OF ABNORMALITY
  15. CLASSIFICATION AND ASSESSMENT:Reliability, Test retest, Split Half
  16. DIAGNOSING PSYCHOLOGICAL DISORDERS:The categorical approach, Prototypical approach
  17. EVALUATING SYSTEMS:Basic Issues in Assessment, Interviews
  18. ASSESSMENT of PERSONALITY:Advantages of MMPI-2, Intelligence Tests
  19. ASSESSMENT of PERSONALITY (2):Neuropsychological Tests, Biofeedback
  20. PSYCHOTHERAPY:Global Therapies, Individual therapy, Brief Historical Perspective
  21. PSYCHOTHERAPY:Problem based therapies, Gestalt therapy, Behavioral therapies
  22. PSYCHOTHERAPY:Ego Analysis, Psychodynamic Psychotherapy, Aversion Therapy
  23. PSYCHOTHERAPY:Humanistic Psychotherapy, Client-Centered Therapy, Gestalt therapy
  24. ANXIETY DISORDERS:THEORIES ABOUT ANXIETY DISORDERS
  25. ANXIETY DISORDERS:Social Phobias, Agoraphobia, Treating Phobias
  26. MOOD DISORDERS:Emotional Symptoms, Cognitive Symptoms, Bipolar Disorders
  27. MOOD DISORDERS:DIAGNOSIS, Further Descriptions and Subtypes, Social Factors
  28. SUICIDE:PRECIPITATING FACTORS IN SUICIDE, VIEWS ON SUICIDE
  29. STRESS:Stress as a Life Event, Coping, Optimism, Health Behavior
  30. STRESS:Psychophysiological Responses to Stress, Health Behavior
  31. ACUTE AND POSTTRAUMATIC STRESS DISORDERS
  32. DISSOCIATIVE AND SOMATOFORM DISORDERS:DISSOCIATIVE DISORDERS
  33. DISSOCIATIVE and SOMATOFORM DISORDERS:SOMATOFORM DISORDERS
  34. PERSONALITY DISORDERS:Causes of Personality Disorders, Motive
  35. PERSONALITY DISORDERS:Paranoid Personality, Schizoid Personality, The Diagnosis
  36. ALCOHOLISM AND SUBSTANCE RELATED DISORDERS:Poly Drug Use
  37. ALCOHOLISM AND SUBSTANCE RELATED DISORDERS:Integrated Systems
  38. SCHIZOPHRENIA:Prodromal Phase, Residual Phase, Negative symptoms
  39. SCHIZOPHRENIA:Related Psychotic Disorders, Causes of Schizophrenia
  40. DEMENTIA DELIRIUM AND AMNESTIC DISORDERS:DELIRIUM, Causes of Delirium
  41. DEMENTIA DELIRIUM AND AMNESTIC DISORDERS:Amnesia
  42. MENTAL RETARDATION AND DEVELOPMENTAL DISORDERS
  43. MENTAL RETARDATION AND DEVELOPMENTAL DISORDERS
  44. PSYCHOLOGICAL PROBLEMS OF CHILDHOOD:Kinds of Internalizing Disorders
  45. LIFE CYCLE TRANSITIONS AND ADULT DEVELOPMENT:Aging