• Shuffle
    Toggle On
    Toggle Off
  • Alphabetize
    Toggle On
    Toggle Off
  • Front First
    Toggle On
    Toggle Off
  • Both Sides
    Toggle On
    Toggle Off
  • Read
    Toggle On
    Toggle Off
Reading...
Front

Card Range To Study

through

image

Play button

image

Play button

image

Progress

1/141

Click to flip

Use LEFT and RIGHT arrow keys to navigate between flashcards;

Use UP and DOWN arrow keys to flip the card;

H to show hint;

A reads text to speech;

141 Cards in this Set

  • Front
  • Back
Obsessive Compulsive Disorder
A disorder characterized by recurrent and unwanted thoughts and/or a need to perform rigidly repetitive physical or mental actions.
Obsession
A persistent thought, idea, impulse, or image that is experienced repeatedly, feels intrusive, and causes anxiety.
Worries
Constant need for reassurance.
Compulsion
A repetitive and rigid behavior or mental act that persons feel they must perform in order to prevent or reduce anxiety.
Treatment for OCD
- Not using psychodynamic therapies (often makes condition worse)
- Exposure and response prevention: exposed to anxiety-provoking stimuli with compulsions
- Medication: serotonin-based anti-depressants (Anafranil, Prozac, Luvox).
Change in DSM-5 for OCD
OCD will not be classified as an anxiety disorder.
Orbito-frontal Cortex
A region of the brain in which impulses involving excretion, sexuality, violence, and other primitive activities normally arise.
Orbito-frontal cortex in terms of OCD
Sexual, violent, etc. impulses move to caudate nuclei, which act as filters that send only the most powerful impulses on to the thalamus
- If impulses reach the thalamus, the person is driven to think further about them and perhaps to act.
- Theory: orbitofrontal cortex or the caudate nuclei of some people are too active, leading to a constant eruption of troublesome thoughts and actions.
Body-dysmorphic Disorder
A somatoform disorder marked by excessive worry that some aspect of one’s physical appearance is defective. Also known as dysmorphophobia.
Briquet's Syndrome / Somatization Disorder
- A somatoform disorder marked by numerous recurring physical ailments without an organic basis. Also called Briquet’s syndrome.
- People generally go from doctor to doctor in search of relief, and describe their symptoms in dramatic and exaggerated terms.
- Most also feel anxious or depressed, disorder lasts longer than a conversion disorder, typically many years.
- Symptoms may decrease but disappear completely without therapy.
Conversion Disorder
A somatoform disorder in which a psychosocial need or conflict is converted into dramatic physical symptoms that affect voluntary motor or sensory function.
Depersonalization Disorder
A disorder marked by a persistent and recurrent feel- ing of being detached from one’s own mental processes or body; that is, one feels unreal and alien.
Dissociative Disorder
Disorders marked by major changes in memory that are not due to clear physical causes.
Dissociative Amnesia
A dissociative disorder marked by an inability to recall important personal events and information.
Dissociative Fugue
A dissociative disorder in which a person travels to a new location and may assume a new identity, simultaneously forgetting his or her past.
Dissociative Identity Disorder
A disorder in which a person develops two or more distinct personalities.Also called multiple personality disorder.
Factitious Disorder
An illness with no identifiable physical cause in which the patient is believed to be producing or faking symptoms intentionally in order to assume a sick role.
Hypochondriasis
A somatoform disorder in which people mistakenly fear that minor changes in their physical function- ing indicate a serious disease.
Hysteria
A term once used to describe what are now known as conversion disorder, somatization disorder, and pain disorder associated with psychological factors.
Hysterical Somatoform Disorder
Somatoform disorders in which people experience actual changes in their physical functioning.
Munchausen Syndrome
An extreme and long-term form of factitious disorder in which a person produces symptoms, gains admission to a hospital, and receives treatment.
Munchausen Syndrome by Proxy
A factitious disorder in which parents make up or produce physical illnesses in their children.
Pain Disorder associated with Psychological Factors
A somatoform disorder marked by pain, with psychosocial factors playing a central role in the onset, severity, or continuation of the pain.
Placebo
A sham treatment that a subject believes to be genuine.
Preoccupation Somatoform Disorder
Somatoform disorders in which people misinterpret and overreact to minor, even normal, bodily symptoms or features.
Affect
An experience of emotion or mood.
Automatic Thoughts
Numerous unpleasant thoughts that come into the mind, helping to cause or maintain depression, anxiety, or other forms of psychological dysfunction.
Bipolar Disorder
A disorder marked by alternating or intermixed periods of mania and depression.
Bipolar I Disorder
A type of bipolar disorder in which a person experiences full manic and major depressive episodes.
Bipolar II Disorder
A type of bipolar disorder in which a person experiences mildly manic (hypomanic) episodes and major depressive episodes.
Cognitive triad for depression
The three forms of negative thinking that Aaron Beck theorizes lead people to feel depressed: a negative view of one’s experiences, oneself, and the future.
Cyclothymic Disorder
A disorder marked by numerous periods of hypomanic symptoms and mild depressive symptoms.
Dysthymic Disorder
A mood disorder that is similar to but longer-lasting and less disabling than a major depressive disorder.
Hypomania
When the symptoms of mania are less severe (causing little impairment), the person is said to be experiencing a hypomanic episode.
- Extremely energetic, talkative, confident, and assertive, flight of ideas and feel creative, hypersexuality.
- Productivity and creativity, but risky behaviors.
- Generally associated with bipolar disorders.
Learned Helplessness
The perception, based on past experiences, that one has no control over one’s reinforcements.
Mania
A state or episode of euphoria or frenzied activity in which people may have an exaggerated belief that the world is theirs for the taking.
Manic Episode
- A period of abnormally and persistently elevated, expansive, or irritable mood, lasting at least one week.
- At least three: inflated self-esteem, no need for sleep, talkative, racing thoughts, distractability, excessive risk involvement
Major Depressive Episode
At least 5: depressed mood all day, no interest/pleasure in activities, significant weight loss/gain, insomnia/hypersomnia, fatigue, no concentration, thoughts of death or suicide
Melancholia
A condition described by early Greek and Roman philosophers and physicians as consisting of unshakable sadness.Today it is known as depression.
Melatonin
A hormone released by the pineal gland when a person’s surroundings are dark.
Mood and Affect
Mood is non-verbal, affect is verbal
Norepinephrine
A neurotransmitter whose abnormal activity is linked to depression and panic disorder.
Paxil
A second-generation anti-depressant (SSRI).
Postpartum Depression
An episode of depression experienced by some new mothers that begins within four weeks after giving birth.
SAD
Seasonal affective disorder (SAD) is a mood disorder in which mood episodes are related to changes in season.
Serotonin
A neurotransmitter whose abnormal activity is linked to depression, obsessive-compulsive disorder, and eating disorders.
SSRI
A group of second-generation antidepressant drugs that increase serotonin activity specifically without affecting other neurotransmitters.
Unipolar Depression
Depression without a history of mania.
Aaron Beck
Viewed unipolar depression as resulting from a pattern of negative thinking that may be triggered by current upsetting situations. Beck developed a treatment approach that he calls cognitive therapy, designed primarily to help clients recognize and change their negative cognitive process and thus to improve their mood.
Behavior Therapy for Depression
Reintroduce depressed clients to pleasurable events and activities, appropriately reinforce their depressive and non-depressive behaviors, and help them improve their social skills.
Cognitive Therapy for Depression
Phase 1: increasing activities and elevating mood. Phase 2: challenging automatic thoughts. Phase 3: identifying negative thinking and biases. Phase 4: changing primary attitudes.
Cognitive Trial for Behavior Change (A-B-C model)
- “I think, so I feel, so I do”.
- The ABC Model is one of the most famous cognitive behavioural therapy techniques for analysing your thoughts, behaviour and emotions. The ABC Model asks you to record a sequence of events in terms of:
A - Activating Event (also sometimes described as a 'Trigger')
B - Beliefs (for example, the thoughts that occur to you when the Activating Event happens)
C - Consequences - how you feel and behave when you have those Beliefs (consequences may be divided into two parts: your actions and your emotions)
Deep Brain Stimulation
A treatment procedure for depression in which a pacemaker powers electrodes that have been implanted in Brodmann Area 25, thus stimulating that brain area.
ECT
Treatment for depression in which electrodes attached to a patient’s head send an electrical current through the brain, causing a convulsion. 65-140 volts of electricity are passed through the brain for half a second or less. Studies find that 60-80% of patients improve.
ECT for depression
One of the most controversial forms of treatment for depression. Some consider it a safe biological procedure with minimal risks, others believe it to be an extreme measure that can cause troublesome memory loss and even neurological damage.
Fluoxetine, Prozac
Antidepressant of the SSRI class. Used for the treatment of major depression, bulimia nervosa, OCD, panic disorder, premenstrual dysphoric disorder. It is the third most common prescribed anti depressant, after sertraline
Interpersonal Therapy (IPT)
Developed by clinical researchers Gerald Klerman and Myrna Weissman. It is treatment for unipolar depression that is based on the belief that clarifying and changing one’s interpersonal problems will help lead to recovery. Holds that any of four interpersonal problem areas may lead to depression and must be addressed: interpersonal loss, interpersonal role dispute, interpersonal role transition, and interpersonal deficits. Over the course of 16 sessions, IPT therapists address:
1) Persons may be experiencing a grief reaction over an important interpersonal loss.
2) Persons may find themselves in the midst of an interpersonal role dispute.
3) Persons may also be experiencing an interpersonal role transition, brought about by major life changes such as divorce or the birth of a child.
4) Persons may display interpersonal deficits, such as extreme shyness or social awkwardness, that prevent them from having intimate relationships.
Lexapro
Lexapro is used to treat anxiety in adults. Lexapro is also used to treat major depressive disorder in adults and adolescents who are at least 12 years old.
Lithium Carbonate
First brought hope to those suffering from bipolar disorder. Became FDA approved in 1970, and discovered by accident. A silvery-white element found in various simple mineral salts throughout the natural world as a treatment for bipolar disorder.
MAO Inhibitor
Antidepressant drug that prevents the action of the enzyme monamine oxidase. Discovered on accident in the 1950’s. Normally the brain supplies of the enzyme MAO break down the neurotransmitter norepinephrine. MAO inhibitors block MAO from carrying out this activity and thereby stop the destruction of norepinephrine. The result is a rise in norepinephrine activity and a reduction of depressive symptoms.
Mood Stabilizers
Psychotropic drugs that help stabilize the moods of people suffering from bipolar mood disorder, also known as antibipolar drugs. Used more widely than lithium, either because they produce fewer undesired effects or because they are even more effective than lithium. Known to be prophylactic drugs, since they can actually help prevent symptoms from developing.
Peter Lewinsohn
In the mid 1970s Peter Lewinsohn developed the behavioral theory of depression. Lewinsohn argued that the essence of depression is a low rate of behavior, and this low rate of behavior causes all the other symptoms of depression. Lewinsohn also hypothesized that the low rate of behavior resulted from a lack of reinforcement from the environment. This was pure Skinnerian theory: teach the depressed patient to elicit higher rates of reinforcement, and the depressed patient’s rate of behavior will increase, causing the depression to lift.
Potassium-Sodium "pump"
antiporter enzyme located in the plasma membrane. Pumps sodium out of cells, while pumping potassium into cells. Helps maintain resting potential, avail transport, and regulate cellular volume. It also functions as signal transducer/integrator to regulate MAPK pathway, ROS, as well as intracellular calcium. In most animal cells, it is responsible for about 1/5 of the cell's energy expenditure. For neurons, it can be responsible for up to 2/3 of the cell's energy expenditure.
Transcranial Magnetic Stimulation
A treatment procedure for depression in which an electromagnetic coil, which is placed on or above a person’s head, sends a current into the individual’s brain.
Tricyclics
Antidepressant drug such as imipramine that has three rings in its molecular structure. Also discovered on accident in the 1950’s. Reduce depression by acting on neurotransmitter “reuptake” mechanisms.
About 60-65% of patients who take tricyclics are helped by them. If depressed people stop taking tricyclics immediately after obtaining relief, they run a high risk of relapsing within a year. If they continue taking the drugs for five months + after being free of depressive symptoms, their chances of relapse decrease considerably.
Vagus Nerve Stimulation
A treatment procedure for depression in which an implanted pulse generator sends regular electrical signals to a person’s vagus nerve. The nerve, in turn, stimulates the brain. Designed hoping to mimic the positive effects of ECT without producing the undesired effects or trauma. A surgeon implants a small device called a pulse generator under the skin of the chest. the surgeon then guides a wire, which extends from the pulse generator, up to the neck and attaches it to the left vagus nerve. Electrical signals travel from the pulse generator through the wire to the vagus nerve. In turn, the stimulated vagus nerve delivers electrical signals to the brain. Typically, the pulse generator, which runs on battery power, is programmed to stimulate the vagus nerve every 5 minutes for a period of 30 seconds.
Zoloft
SSRI, primarily prescribed to patients with major depressive episodes, OCD, panic, and social anxiety.
Parasuicide
Suicide attempt that does not result in death.
Suicide
A self-inflicted death in which the person acts intentionally, directly, and consciously.
Crisis Intervention
A treatment approach that tries to help people in a psychological crisis view their situation more accurately, make better decisions, act more constructively, and overcome the crisis.
Dichotomous Thinking
Viewing problems and solutions in rigid “either/or” terms. Many people who attempt suicide fall victim to this type of thinking.
Hot-lines
A number that those contemplating suicide can call for psychological and emotional support.
No Suicide Contract
They have been used by clinicians in the U.S. since 1973, and are growing in popularity among family members and friends of individuals who are or have been suicidal.

The first and most important section of no-suicide contracts is the unequivocal agreement that the individual signing the contract will, under no circumstances, die by suicide. Then the next section lists names and phone numbers that an individual needs to call if he or she becomes suicidal.

The objectives of no-suicide contracts include:

1) Establishing a mindset in which the individual realizes that it is never okay to die by suicide.

2) Giving the person a way to get help if he or she is suicidal -- most people are in deep emotional pain, very confused, and unsure of what to do when they are suicidal, so by writing down a list of things to do and people to contact, they will not have to "think things out" - the information will be right in front of them.
Suicidality
The likelihood of a person to commit suicide.
Anorexia nervosa
A disorder marked by the pursuit of extreme thinness and by extreme loss of weight.
Alanis Morrissette
Grammy-winner singer and actress, she suffered from both anorexia and bulimia nervosa in her teen years. She began her road to recovery at age 18. Now fully recovered, she is a extremely healthy and has run several marathons.
Binging
An episode of uncontrollable eating during which a person ingests a very large quantity of food. It occurs over a limited period of time, often an hour, during which the person eats much more food than most people would eat during a similar time span. People who binge repeatedly often perform inappropriate compensatory behaviors, such as forcing themselves to vomit, misusing laxatives/diuretics, fasting, or excessive exercise.
Binge-eating/purging-type anorexia nervosa
A type of anorexia nervosa in which people have eating binges but still lose excessive weight by forcing themselves to vomit after meals or by abusing laxatives or diuretics.
Blind Weighing
Weighing procedure in which the results are hidden from the eating disordered patient.
Bulimia Nervosa
A disorder marked by frequent eating binges that are followed by forced vomiting or other extreme com- pensatory behaviors.Also known as binge- purge syndrome.
CBT for Eating Disorders
Cognitive-behavioral therapy is used to treat the mental and emotional elements of an eating disorder. This type of therapy is done to change how you think and feel about food, eating, and body image. It is also done to help correct poor eating habits and prevent relapse.
CBT for Anorexia
In most treatment programs for anorexia nervosa, a combination of behavioral and cognitive interventions are included. These techniques are designed to help clients appreciate and alter the behaviors and thought processes that help keep their restrictive eating going. Behavioral side: clients are required to monitor their feelings, hunger levels, and food intake. Cognitive side: they are taught to identify their “core pathology”, their deep-seated belief that they should in fact be judged by their shape and weight and by their ability to control these physical characteristics.
CBT for Bulimia
When treating clients with bulimia nervosa, cognitive-behavioral therapists employ many of the same techniques that they apply in cases of anorexia nervosa. Behavioral side: clients are often instructed to keep diaries of their eating behavior, changes in sensation of hunger and fullness, and the ebb and flow of their feelings. Exposure and response prevention is also used to help break the binge-purge cycle (exposing people to situations that would ordinarily raise anxiety and then preventing them from performing their usual compulsive responses until they learn that the situations are actually harmless and their compulsive acts unnecessary.) Cognitive side: to help clients change their maladaptive attitudes toward food, eating, weight, and shape. Therapists usually teach the individuals to identify and challenge the negative thoughts that regularly precede their urge to binge, and guide clients to recognize, question, and eventually change their perfectionistic standards, sense of helplessness, and low self-concept. CBT behavioral approaches seem to help as many as 65% of patients stop bingeing and purging.
HPA Pathway / Eating Disorders
As the biological response to stress is the activation of the HPA axis a relevant factor capable of influencing the onset and the course of ED.
Hypothalamus
Part of the brain that helps maintain various bodily functions, including eating and hunger.
Lateral Hypothalamus
Region of the hypothalamus that, when activated, produces hunger.
Karen Carpenter
Lead singer of the sof-rock brother-and-sister duo “The Carpenters”, ied from medical problems relating to anorexia in 1983 at the age of 32. She was admired by many as a wholesome and healthy model to young women everywhere.
Kelly Clarkson
A famous singer who battled both anorexia and bulimia nervosa for over 7 years.
Multi-dimensional Risk Perspective
A theory that identifies several different kinds of risk factors that may combine to help cause a disorder. The more such factors present, the greater the risk of developing the disorder.
Obesity
According to the World Health Organization, people whose BMI is above 25 are overweight; those with
a BMI above 30 are considered obese. By such standards, one-third of adults in the United States are overweight or obese.
Purging
Vomiting to reduce calorie intake.
Ventromedial Hypothalamus
A brain region that depresses hunger when activated.
Weight Set Point
The weight level that a person is predisposed to maintain, con- trolled in part by the hypothalamus.
Alcoholics Anonymous
A self-help organization that provides support and guidance for persons with alcohol abuse or dependence.
Addiction
Such excessive reliance on a drug that one makes it the center of one’s life and perhaps builds a tolerance to it, experiences withdrawal symptoms when one stops taking it, or both. Also known as substance dependence.
Amphetamines
A stimulant drug that is manufactured in the laboratory. First produced in the ‘30’s to help treat asthma, they soon became popular among people trying to lose weight, athletes seeking an extra burst of energy, soldiers, truck drivers, and pilots trying to stay awake, and students studying for exams through the night. Most often taken in pull or capsule form, although some people inject the drugs intravenously or smoke them for a quicker, more powerful effect.
Aversion Therapy
A treatment based on the principles of classical conditioning in which people are repeatedly presented with shocks or another unpleasant stimu- lus while they are performing undesirable behaviors such as taking a drug.
BSCT
Behavioral self-control training (BSCT): a cognitive-behavioral approach to treating alcohol abuse and dependence in which people are taught to keep track of their drinking behavior and to apply coping strategies in situations that typically trigger excessive drinking.
Caffeine
The world’s most widely used stimulant, most often consumed in coffee.
Community Approach
Community mental health treatment: A
treatment approach that emphasizes com-
munity care.
Delirium Tremens (DT)
A dramatic withdrawal reaction experienced by some people who are alcohol-dependent. It consists of confusion, clouded consciousness, and terrifying visual hallucinations. Also called alcohol withdrawal delirium. A small percentage of people who are dependent on alcohol experience this particularly dramatic withdrawal reaction.
Denial
An ego defense mechanism in which a person fails to acknowledge unac- ceptable thoughts, feelings, or actions.
Detoxification
Systematic and medically supervised withdrawal from a drug.
Endorphins
Neurotransmitters that help relieve pain and reduce emotional tension; sometimes referred to as the body’s own opioids.
Fetal Alcohol Syndrome
A cluster of problems in a child, including low birth weight, irregularities in the head and face, and intellectual deficits, caused by exces- sive alcohol intake by the mother during pregnancy.
Free-base cocaine (crack)
Crack, a powerful form of free-base cocaine, is produced by boiling cocaine down into crystalline balls and is smoked with a crack pipe.
Frontal Cortex and Substance Abuse
One of the reasons drugs produce feelings of pleasure is because they increase levels of the neuro- transmitter dopamine along a “pleasure pathway” in the brain that extends from the ventral tegmental area to the nucleus accumbens and then to the frontal cortex. This activation of pleasure centers plays a role in addiction.
GABA effect
One important group of neurons to which ethyl alcohol binds are those that normally receive the neurotransmitter GABA. GABA carries an inhibitory message, when it is received at certain neurons. When alcohol binds to receptors on those neurons, it apparently helps GABA to shut down the neurons, thus helping to relax the drinker.
Hallucinogens
A substance that causes powerful changes primarily in sensory perception, including strengthening perceptions and producing illusions and hallucinations, also called psychedelic drugs. These include: LSD, mescaline, psilocybin, MDMA.
Halfway House
A residence for people with schizophrenia or other severe problems, often staffed by paraprofessionals. Also known as a group home or crisis house.
Harm Reduction
Harm reduction (or less commonly known as harm minimization) refers to a range of public health policies designed to reduce the harmful consequences associated with human behaviors, even if those behaviors are risky or illegal.
Heroin Intoxication
A highly addictive substance derived from morphine; illegal in the United States under all circumstances. After taking heroin repeatedly for just a few weeks, users may become caught in a pattern of abuse: the drug interferes significantly with their social and oc- cupational functioning. In most cases, heroin abuse leads to a pattern of dependence as well, and users soon center their lives on the substance, build a tolerance for it, and experience a withdrawal reaction when they stop taking it.
IV Drug
A drug that is injected into one's veins.
LSD
(lysergic acid diethylamide), a hallucinogenic drug derived from ergot alkaloids.
Marijuana
One of the cannabis drugs, derived from buds, leaves, and flowering tops of the hemp plant cannabis sativa.
Methamphetamine
A powerful amphetamine drug that has experienced a surge in popularity in recent years, posing major health and law enforcement problems. Around 0.2 % of the population use it currently.
Methadone
A laboratory-made opioid-like drug.
MDMA
Ecstasy. It is also known as X, Adam, hug, beans, and love drug. This laboratory-produced drug is technically a stimulant, similar to amphetamines, but it also produces hallucinogenic effects and so is often considered a hallucinogenic drug.
Morphine
A highly addictive substance derived from opium first in 1804, that is particularly effective in relieving pain. Named after Morpheus, the Greek god of sleep, this drug relieves pain even better than opium did and initially was considered safe.
Neuroleptic Malignant Syndrome
A severe, potentially fatal reaction to antipsy- chotic drugs, marked by muscle rigidity, fever, altered consciousness, and autonomic dysfunction.
Nicotine
An alkaloid (nitrogen-containing chemical) derived from tobacco or pro- duced in the laboratory.
Nucleus Accumbens
This reward center apparently extends from the brain area called the ventral tegmental area (in the midbrain) to an area known as the nucleus accumbens and on to the frontal cortex. A key neurotransmitter in this pleasure pathway appears to be dopamine. When dopamine is activated along the pleasure pathway, a person experiences pleasure.
Opioids
Opium or any of the drugs derived from opium, including morphine, heroin, and codeine.
Opium
A highly addictive substance made from the sap of the opium poppy. Opium has been in use for thousands of years.
Phencyclidine (PCP)
A synthetic compound derived from piperidine, used as a veterinary anesthetic and in hallucinogenic drugs such as angel dust.
Poly-substance abuse
Psychologically addicted to being in an intoxicated state without a preference for one particular substance.
Relapse
Falling back into an addiction after a period of recovery.
Aversion Therapy
A treatment in which clients are repeatedly presented with unpleasant stimuli while performing undesir- able behaviors such as taking a drug.
Relapse Prevention Training
An approach to treating alcohol abuse that is similar to behavioral self-control training but also has people plan ahead for risky situations and reactions.
Residential Treatment
A place where people formerly dependent on drugs live, work, and socialize in a drug- free environment.Also called a therapeutic community.
Reward Center
A dopamine-rich pathway in the brain that produces feelings of plea- sure when activated.
Reward Deficiency Syndrome
A condition, suspected to be present in some individuals, in which the brain’s reward center is not readily activated by the usual events in their lives.
Sensitization (in substance abuse)
A number of theorists further believe that when substances repeatedly stimulate this reward center, the center develops a hypersensitivity to the substances. Neurons in the center fire more readily when stimulated by the substances, contributing to future desires for them. This theory, called the incentive-sensitization theory of addiction, has received considerable support in animal studies.
Stimulant Drugs of Abuse
Stimulants are substances that increase the activity of the central nervous system, result- ing in increased blood pressure and heart rate, greater alertness, and sped-up behavior and thinking. Among the most troublesome stimulants are cocaine and amphetamines, whose effects on people are very similar. When users report different effects, it is often because they have ingested different amounts of the drugs. Two other widely used and legal stimulants are caffeine and nicotine.
Substance Abuse
When persons rely on the drug excessively and chronically and in so doing damage their family and social relationships, function poorly at work, or put themselves and others in danger.
Substance Dependence
A pattern of behavior in which people organize their lives around a drug, possibly building a tolerance to it, experiencing withdrawal symptoms when they stop taking it, or both. Also known as addiction.
Synergistic Drug Effect
In pharmacology, an increase of effects that occurs when more than one substance is acting on the body at the same time.
Tetrahydrocannabinol
(THC) The main active ingredient of cannabis substances.
Tolerance
The adjustment that the brain and the body make to the regular use of certian drugs so that even large doses are needed to achieve the earlier affects. When people develop tolerance, they need increasing doses of a drug in order to keep getting the disired effect.
Ventral tegmental area (and substance abuse)
This reward center apparently extends from the brain area called the ventral tegmental area (in the midbrain) to an area known as the nucleus accumbens and on to the frontal cortex. A key neurotransmitter in this pleasure pathway appears to be dopamine. When dopamine is activated along the pleasure pathway, a person experiences pleasure.
Withdrawal
Consists of unpleasant and even dangerous symptoms: cramps, anxiety attacks, sweating, nausea. These occur when individuals suddenly stop taking or cut back on the drug.