The Mouse Party interactive experiment, released by The University of Utah, was quite an interesting and bizarre way to learn how drugs affect the brain. My prior knowledge on this subject matter was rather small, therefore my interest in this experiment was elevated. I chose to discuss three drugs that interested me the most in this reflection. LSD was the first drug that struck my curiosity when learning about the compound components to. Thus to no surprise, the rat that was on it was picked first. LSD relies almost completely on the serotonin neurons in the brain by rearranging and binding them together to create array of effects on the body. LSD is known for the way it reacts to receptor’s in a variety different ways, making the hallucinatory effects …show more content…
Cocaine works by temporarily blocking dopamine transporters in the brain, leaving the synaptic cleft built up with excess dopamine, causing the cell to get overstimulated. This effects the reward center of the brain, making the user feel a sensation of positive feelings for a short amount of time, therefore making it highly addictive. Moving onto methamphetamine (meth), in my opinion, by far the worst drug out off all the others in this experiment. Meth is introduced to the body through inhalation or injection, causing the dopamine transporters in the brain to start working in reverse. Due to this, dopamine floods the synapse causing the body to have intense sensations of happiness and pleasure for a short period of time. A result in using this, will deplete your dopamine levels causing a dependency on the drug to feel happiness or pleasure. The information that was presented to me over the course of the mouse party interactive experiment, had been very beneficial to my understanding of how drugs effect the brain. Everything in this experiment correlated to what we learned about in lecture last Thursday, making it easier to understand the physiology in the
LSD has many effects on the body moreover the mind for example “An hour later Stanley thought he had gone insane. His head was filled with terrifying visions and his body seemed to tumble through time and space. Then his mind snapped and sent him into a frenzy of rage. According to Linda Hunt, "They told me the next day that I broke down the door and ran down the hall screaming," Stanley
The modern world’s first glimpse into the world of psychedelics was through d-lysergic acid diethylamide, or LSD. LSD was first synthesized in 1938 by two Swiss chemists from the alkaloid lysergic acid found in ergot, a parasitic fungus that grows on rye and other grains. Five years later, on April 19, 1943 Albert Hoffman, one of LSD’s co-discoverers
The researchers conducted their study at the alcoholic unit of the New Jersey Neuro-Psychiatric Institute at Princeton, New Jersey. Participants were recruited by offering patients admitted to the institute the opportunity to take part in the experimental LSD program. A total of 28 alcoholics were admitted to the program, and their results were compared to that of a group of 34 alcoholics who took part in a standard comparison program provided by the Alcoholic Unit. Details about the patients were recorded such as their ethnic background, age, and marital status. Subjects were placed into groups of four. The first week was structured as an orientation week, and at the end of the week, two of the members were randomly chosen to be administered
Jyllian Kemsley Ph.D. is a chemical research scientist, and scientific research contributor to the CENtral Science’s Safety Zone blog that seeks to “cover science and technology, business and industry, government and policy, education, and employment aspects of the chemistry field”. Her article entitled “Psychedelic Compounds like Ecstasy May Be Good for More than Just a High", reports on the revolutionary research theory within the field of medicine that seeks to examine the prospective benefits of using psychoactive compounds in treating a number of mental conditions. The piece is well written, and presents a number of background studies that have evaluated the efficiency of these
Lysergic Acid Diethylamide or LSD is a hallucinogenic drug that can be taken orally, injected or even absorbed through the skin. Once LSD has entered the body, it starts to take effects on the levels of serotonin in the brain which can cause; hallucinations, mood change, and even sensory distortion. After taking LSD, the effects on the brain usually last from 6 to 9 hours depending on multiple factors; the dosage of LSD taken, the subject taking LSD, and even the user 's mood can affect the duration of LSD use. LSD is a non-lethal, non-addictive, and a non-habit forming drug that has little to no effect on the long-term health of an individual. However, LSD has been illegal since the 1960 's. Not only did availability of LSD become scarce with the criminalization of the substance, but the legislation also put a halt on the research of the chemical as well. Much of the way LSD interacts with the brain has been left unknown. This derivative from the rye fungus Ergot has been the source of controversy that has left many people wondering why LSD has been classified as a drug that is just as dangerous to use as heroin. It becomes difficult for an individual to understand how legislation could criminalize a chemical without completely understanding how it functions and affects people. LSD should be legalized for scientific, medical and recreational usage.
Merry Pranksters were famous for using LSD and they used higher doses of LSD because they felt that they were in touch with the nature spiritually and it also gave them sensations that they never felt before. In reality, LSD is a
Methamphetamine takes the form of a white, odorless, bitter tasting 1, crystalline powder. Methamphetamine increases the amount of dopamine (involved in reward, pleasure, motor function,compulsion, and perseveration). The drug produces this effect because it has a similar molecular compound as dopamine. Methamphetamine is a powerful central nervous system stimulant. The drug works directly on the brain and spinal cord by interfering with normal neurotransmission. When taken repeatedly over time, methamphetamine can produce lasting damage in the
In fact the precise neural pathway that LSD effects is not fully known but LSD has such a similar chemical structure to that of the neurotransmitter called serotonin in the brain which contributes to feelings of happiness and well being and it may affect sleep and appetite as well. It is believed that LSD modifies the way the brain’s serotonin receptors work preventing neurotransmission or stimulation. For a person with a serious mental illness, LSD can be dangerous as it may worsen or speed up the effects of their illness. For example, a person who suffers from schizophrenia and takes LSD may worsen their current mental
Substance addiction can hugely impact on a person’s thinking, functioning and behaviour. Whilst depressant drugs such as alcohol and opioids slow down your central nervous system (CNS), stimulants such as cocaine or amphetamine increase the activity of the CNS, leading to higher blood pressure, heart rate and increased alertness. Repeated abuse of the substance leads to tolerance and withdrawal, in turn this leads to the user showing signs of irrational behaviour. Another form of substance abuse is hallucinogens; they can cause powerful changes in sensory perceptions. It works by binding to the serotonin receptors, these neurons control visual information and emotions, and this can lead to various effects on the user. Neurobiology can help us understand the reasons for addiction and the effects they have on us. Groman and Jentsch (2012) discuss key issues of differentiating the causes and consequences of addiction through neuroimaging and behavioural research on monkeys, they found that the dysfunction of the dopamine
Drugs have been around for a very long time. They are used for a variety of reasons. Some of these reasons include relaxation, socialization, curiosity, stress relief, or a form of escapism. However, most people don’t know the threats and danger that it can cause to the body. In this paper, we are going to examine the changes that happen inside the brain due to the effects of different drugs. We will look closely at how drugs such as hallucinogens, ecstasy, cocaine, heroin, and cannabis affect an individual psychologically. I will explain the origin of the drugs, how a person feels while on the drug, how the drugs
For thousands of years people have spoke of all types of visions. Whether the visions were from religious groups, Indian tribes, or self proclaimed prophets; all types of people have seen things. This was more than likely occurring with the help of different types of hallucinogens. Hallucinogens have been around since the beginning of time. Some mushrooms, cactus flowers, and even different types of mold are all able to produce hallucinogenic effects. However, it was only within the last century that man actually started to produce his own. LSD, or lysergic acid diethylamide-25, is a relatively new substance in society. All known effects show LSD, or acid, as the harmful drug most people know it as. There are people who believe
LSD and other stimulants make people invest most of their awareness in sensory information. This is why music sounds so genuine, colors look very vivid and usual things feel very unusual. As most of the time, we have a very small scope of senses. We avoid a lot of signals send to our brain because we are too busy making sense of our reality. This function interacts with a neural network many call the self or the ego. A sense of self, and a potential map of the world based on conditioning and past experience.
An individual’s behavior and emotion becomes chemically altered often resulting in dependency, aggression, onset of diseases and poor judgement. This poses a dangerous threat to the neurotransmitters since they have multiple jobs in different parts of the brain. Drugs of abuse are able to exert influence over the brain reward pathway either by directly influencing the action of dopamine within the system, or by altering the activity of other neurotransmitters that exert a modulatory influence over this pathway. These drugs are often powerful and have been known to trigger schizophrenic behavior and can also cause a person to cease breathing, for example hallucinogens such as LSD, mescaline, and psilocybin are able to artificially stimulate the serotonin receptor (Sapolsky, 2005).
The drug Cocaine alters chemical levels in the brain which can lead the user to have the ‘feel good’ factor.