Reward System 2
What does addiction and pair-bonding have in common with the dopamine reward system? Better yet, what is the DA reward system? The DA reward system is what keeps us evolving. It is what keeps all living animals evolving. It serves to motivate us to do basic survival skills like, eating, drinking and reproducing. Though it is used for other things as well (Katherine H. Taber, Deborah N. Black, Linda J. Porrino, Robin A. Hurley, 2012). Our reward system makes us crave water and after drinking water, give us a feeling of relief… the relief being the reward. So we have been conditioned to crave water and get rewarded after consuming it (Katherine H. taber et al. 2012). Without this basic trait, we would not be here.
The reward system controls our behavior towards new experiences by learning and adapting from past experiences (Taber et al. 2012). This is why we grow and evolve to changes in our environment. Many studies have shown that the VTA, NAC and the pre/orbits frontal cortex are used in the DA system and connected with responses to both gains and losses and that activation in these areas are mainly associated with motivational purposes (Helen E. Fisher, Lucy L. Brown, Arthur Aron, Greg Strong, Debra Mashek, 2010).
In this review, I will be covering some specific uses of this system. I will be explaining what cocaine addiction and pair-bonding have in common and what pathways it uses, in the DA reward system in the brain. All though there are some main brain regions in this system that control specific features of behavior, we have to keep in mind that all types of rewards simultaneously us...
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...lanced system. There is a great overlap in the psychology of drug addiction and human love that share the same levels of process when it comes to addiction (Fisher et al. 2010). Understanding these processes may help with future treatments when it comes to addiction in many different aspects of addiction (Fisher et al. 2010). In the article "The Behavioral, Anatomical and Pharmacological Parallels between Social Attachment, love and addiction", they state how "treatments used in one domain may be effective in the other; for instance, treatments used to reduce drug cravings may be effective in treating grief from loss of a loved one or a bad breakup" (Fisher et al. pg58, 2010 ). Over all, knowing that pair-bonding and drugs of abuse have such a strong correlation shows how intense human love really is. It is crazy to think we may be addicted to the ones we love.
The author uses his knowledge of the human brain to emphasize the importance of “Endorphins” when growing up and how the lack of the chemicals “in infancy and early childhood,[creates a greater need] for external sources” (289) such as drugs. Along with his scientific evidence, Mate also uses many of his patients traumatic childhood experiences such as having “dishwashing liquid poured down his throat . . . and was tied to a chair in a dark room to control to his hyperactivity” (289). These patients help create an image for the readers to be able to understand the feelings and the pain addict 's often face in their childhood, that leaves them feeling abandoned and neglected from the rest of the world. Mate even analysis the fact that addict 's can come from home where there is no abuse and the parents try their best to provide a loving and nurturing home. The problem in families like this is often a parent is the one who faced traumatic experience as a child and are not able to transmit the proper love to their child, because they lack the feeling themselves. The author uses the strategy of looking at both the child and the parent experiences to show that the root problem originates from the same outcome, wanting to feel “unconditionally [loved and be] fully accepted even when most ornery”
Koob, G. F., & Simon, E. J. (2009). The Neurobiology of Addiction: Where We Have Been and Where We Are Going. NCBI, 115-132. Retrieved APRIL 26, 2014, from www.ncbi.nih.nlm.go/pmc/articles/PMC2901107
In the book, Addiction & Grace: Love and Spirituality in the Healing of Addictions, May explores how addiction develops and can be treated from a psychological, physiological, and spiritual standpoint. This theme is clearly shown throughout the text as it shows addiction from a whole person's perspective. The book covers the development of addiction from desire through the experience of addiction. The key focus is on looking at the matter of addiction from multiple stand points then broken down by explaining how addiction is an issue psychologically, physiologically, and spiritually. By focusing on these three areas, the author is able to present the reader with a clear understanding of addiction from all sides of the problem.
The biopsychosocial model proposes, and the scientific evidence has tended to confirm, that the interdependent factors ;biological, psychological and social all end up influencing each other and feeding into each other in an interdependent way and for these reasons, the biopsychosocial model has much to offer professionals working in treatment, prevention, and research in the addictions
If a stimulus can cause so much change in the body then what is it? A stimulus is a change in the internal and external environment detected by the body. The stimulus triggers the brain to release dopamine to give us pleasurable rewards when engage in behavior that people find pleasurable. Our ability to “feel good” involves brain neurotransmitters in this reward system. This reward system consists of dopamine-releasing neurons in areas of the brain called the ventral tegmental area (VTA), the nucleus accumbens, and the amygdala. The VTA dopamine system is strongly associated with the reward system of the brain. Dopamine is released in areas such as the nucleus accumbens and prefrontal cortex as a result of rewarding experiences such as food, sex, and neutral stimuli that become associated with them.
Substance disorders affects all social, educational, cultural, and age groups. Substance abuse research often focusses on the abuser and the family as a whole but not how it affects their spouse. United States misuse is linked to approximately 590,000 deaths and is responsible for injury or illness to almost 40 million individuals every year. (Cox, R., Ketner, J. & Blow, A. 2013). The consequences resulted from this disorder, are not only related to the substance abusers, but also have a great influence on their behavior and other layers of their life, especially their wives (Salehyan, Bigdeli, & Hashemian 2011). When the husband or boyfriend has an addiction the wife takes on responsibilities of her spouse which causes an increase in stress. Marriage is generally described as a protective factor against substance use. The concept of codependency was developed to explain what happens to the spouse of a substance abuser.
Goldberg, J. (2012, October 10). Drug abuse, addiction, and the brain. In Mental Health Center. Retrieved November 13, 2013, from http://www.webmd.com/mental-health/drug-abuse-addiction?page=3
George F. Koob defines addiction as a compulsion to take a drug without control over the intake and a chronic relapse disorder (1). The Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders of the American Psychiatric Association defined "substance dependence" as a syndrome basically equivalent to addiction, and the diagnostic criteria used to describe the symptoms of substance dependence to a large extent define compulsion and loss of control of drug intake (1). Considering drug addiction as a disorder implies that there are some biological factors as well as social factors.
A study done by Puig and colleagues (2012) compared the effects of intermittent (once daily) and binge (three times a day) cocaine treatment for 1 and 14 days after the last cocaine injection on spontaneous locomotor activity and dopamine levels in the NAc in rats. The intermittent treatment led to a spontaneous increase in dopamine and in locomotor activity at the exact hour which rats were habituated to receive a cocaine injection (Puig, Noble & Benturquia, 2012). The binge treatment led to sensitization of locomotor effects of cocaine, associated to a dopamine release sensitization in the NAc (Puig, Noble & Benturquia, 2012). These results show the addictive nature of cocaine and the behavioural and sensitization effects it has on the animal, which can be related to the effects it can possibly have on humans (Puig, Noble & Benturquia,
Loving someone with an addiction can be overwhelming, but the person underneath the obsession is still the person he or
Salamone, J D., and M Correa. "Motivational Views of Reinforcement: Implications for Understanding the Behavioral Functions of Nucleus Accumbens Dopamine." Behavioral Brain Research 137 (2002): 3-25. Pubmed. Web. 28 Feb. 2011. .
The world involving drug addiction is a taboo topic to many. However, drug addiction is a very real topic that occurs worldwide. The widespread use of drugs is not restricted to the United States, with roughly five percent of the world’s population using in the past few months (Mosher & Akins, 2014). Many scientists, doctors, and specialists study addiction and try to find an explanation for why so many become addicted.
Different neurotransmitter levels in the brain cause the human body to be affected in certain ways. According to the article, a test was conducted on seventeen people who are in love by using a fMRI to view the neural processes. The fMRI showed an increase in neural pathways that are related to experiences of being in love and having a drug addiction. It also revealed, getting over a relationship is like trying to come clean from drugs. Knowing this helps explain why people do crazy and unexplainable things when they are heart broken. To get help and support after a breakup turn to friends and family. The levels of neurotransmitters like norepinephrine and dopamine can cause obsessive actions towards ones partner. On the other hand, when a female decides to stop having sex with her husband, his serotonin levels increase which in turn decreases his testosterone causing infidelity, (Boutwell, Barnes,
However, love is the most pleasant and insomnia of human feelings, and it is the most experience that affects itself the effects of torture does not pass for life, even painful, it is the delicious pain in the words of many who describe it. Because the mind is the source of love and the primary driver of one's emotions and feelings toward another person, a new study shows that separation from the beloved occupies specific regions of the brain responsible for addiction. A new study, published in the journal Neurology, examined the brains of 15 people who had been separated at least two months ago from their partners after at least two years of the relationship, and still have feelings for them, according to Life Science.
Humans are environmentally and genetically predisposed to developing a motivated addictive behavior. Addiction is a brain disease and a behavior. All behaviors are choices. Choices that adolescences make at a young age directly affect the outcomes of their futures. Many factors contribute to an adolescence becoming an addict or exhibiting a drug seeking behavior. Nearly all drugs of abuse increase dopamine release. Dopamine is an important neurotransmitter in drug abuse and addiction. Dopamine plays a role in reward motivated behaviors, motor control and important hormones. It’s known as the “feel good hormone” which is why people abuse drugs that increase the release of dopamine. Since life is unpredictable, our brains have evolved the ability to remodel themselves in response to our experiences. The more we practice an activity the more neurons developed in order to fine-tune that activity causing addictive behaviors to be detrimental.