Addiction - how does it work?

[beyond-infinity]

^

Taking an anti-depressant that increases seratonin (an SSRI) can be protective against phycosis and permanent neurotoxicity. Just my 2 cents.

Do you mean with reference to toxicity caused by Ritalin/Klonopin?

 

[future psychiatrist]

Helps with stimulant neurotoxicity.

 

[clinto84]

i smoked meth every afternoon to feel what i thought was normal. i would get better sleep that nite.. less hours but wake up feeling better. once i stopped the next week was hell, 11 or 12 hours sleep i would wake up ok for about 1-2 hours then want to collapse with exhaustion but i knew if i just had some meth i would be sweet..

 

[bowdenta]

opiates, amphetamine, and coke all release dopamine which fcomes from leva-dopa. the dopamine production is much quicker than seretonin is produced, so you can continually redose while still feeling the effects. tolerance builds up as the receptors for dopamine become down-regulated (meaning the total number of receptors for the dopamine neurotransmitter is less is the addicted user)'


now this is the physiological aspect of addiction. equally important is the social factor. the knowledge that you must continually redose (like smoking meth or crack or ciggs) makes you want to do it more frequently than you really need to. there are other reasons why one might abuse a drug for social reasons like all your friends do it, or maybe you do it conjunction with other drugs (like smoking a cig after every line of coke)