The Cycles Of Abuse

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I have spent most of my life among drug addicts and mental illness. Coming from a small town, help is scarce and often surrounded by stigma. The cycles of abuse are passed down from one generation to the next as I watch my peers succumb to addiction. While a childhood friend was being arrested for dealing heroin, I was given an opportunity to participate in biomedical research, which led me to understand the mechanisms behind certain drugs and their interactions in the brain. I learned about dopamine addiction theory and about psychopharmacologists working towards cures for cocaine addiction, which intrigued me and set me on a path to study neuroscience here at Vassar. Now, the Denmark Institute for Study Abroad (DIS) will provide me with necessary connections, skills and insights for graduate school and back home. …show more content…
Much of the course looks specifically at the treatment for things like schizophrenia, anxiety, depression, and addiction, which are all especially relevant to my interests and current career path. Not to mention the study tour in Sweden, which goes through the facilities where researchers first discovered dopamine and where they are at the forefront of global dopamine research. The DIS program fits my interests exceptionally and offers opportunities in science in a part of the world that I likely otherwise would not get to experience

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