The Role Of D Cycloserine ( Dcs ) On The Extinction Of Conditioned Alcohol Seeking Behavior

Substance use disorder also has neurological factors, such as dopamine and endogenous opioids being affected by use, creating an extremely pleasurable high (Rosenberg and Kosslyn, 2011). Though, this effect on neurotransmitters creates a difficulty when chronic drinkers try to quit. When one’s body gets used to the addition of alcohol to one’s system their body will no longer produce these endogenous opioids without it, creating intense and painful withdrawal symptoms (Rosenberg & Kosslyn 2011). These factors make alcohol extremely difficult to quit.

The relationship between withdrawal, stress, and relapse also has implications for the treatment of alcoholic patients. Interestingly, animals with a history of alcohol dependence are more sensitive to certain medications that impact relapse­like behavior than animals without such a history, suggesting that it may be possible to develop medications that specifically target excessive, uncontrollable alcohol consumption. (“Alcohol Dependence”)

The subject had experienced a 60-minute habituation session in an operant chamber, but was otherwise naïve to the chamber. The subject was water deprived for 23 hours prior to the study. This created an establishing operation for water as a positive reinforcer. 0.1ml of water was delivered using a solenoid delivery system into the water reservoir on a variable temporal schedule of 90 seconds. Reinforcement delivery was accompanied by the sound of water dropping. The study was terminated following 11 reinforcements. The latency between delivery of the reinforcer and subsequent drinking of the reinforcer was recorded. If the subject failed to drink before the succeeding reinforcer was delivered, this delivery

Relapses and drug taking are both heavily influenced by similar factors such as the drugs neurochemistry, the user’s history, environment, and dose of the pharmacokinetics. After a period of abstinence or non-use the drugs reinstating is more often an initiation of more than one factor, namely; re-exposure to drug, stress, cues in the environment, priming of the drug to user. In the user’s mind, neurochemical responses are commonly induced through these factors, in that they create a craving by mimicking the drug and this in turn prevents reinstatement and desire to use the drug (McGovern, Xie, Segal, Siembab, & Drake, 2006).

Alcoholism is a long standing health issue, and there has been ongoing research to seek out drugs that could effectively help to treat alcoholism, acute and long-term. According to an article by Johnson, Swift, Addolorato, Ciraulo, and Myrick (2005), a challenge has been to identify medications that not only reduce the rewarding effects of alcohol, but the dependence, post cessation craving, and the withdrawal craving.

Addiction is thought of a biological nature that is past through genetics according to the biological theory as explained in P2. A contrasting theory of the biological theory would be the classical and operant conditioning theory, this was made by Pavlov. The basis of conditioning theories is that addiction is the end result of the reinforcement of drug use. The drug acts as a reinforcer and gains control over the user’s behavior. In contrast to the biological models of the exposure theories, these conditioning models suggest that anyone can show addictive behavior if they are given reinforcements, regardless of their genetics. The advantage of this

Genetic factors, such as having a family history of drug abuse, has a major influence on the likelihood that someone will fall into a cycle of drug abuse and addiction (Volkow, 2007; Horvath et al., 2013). From a biological perspective, we address issues by attending to the underlying biological cause. Since we know that addiction can be influenced by chemical changes in the brain, we can combat it and prevent relapse by restoring brain chemistry through the use of medications, such as those that eliminate the pleasurable effects of drugs, and ideally through total abstinence from drugs (Horvath et al.,

Equally, Hon (2003) reported that, “The active ingredients of effective treatment for alcohol problems have been distilled from several generations of research into the treatment of alcohol abuse and dependence” (2003, p.

Progressive ratio schedules have been used to study the effects of different drugs or doses. The progressive ratio schedule is defined as increasing the ratio requirement (the number of responses needed to acquire an injection) following each reinforcement until there is no longer a response. The breaking point is the final ratio and is used to evaluate the efficacy of the reinforcer. Different motivational variables change the value of the breaking point. Increasing the dose of cocaine increases the value of the breaking point. On the other hand, pre-treating animals with spiperone or SCH23390 will decrease the breaking point. Therefore, it can be implied that both D1 and D2 receptors are needed to reinforce the effects of cocaine (Hubner & Moreton, 1991).

In order to curb his cravings for alcohol, the French doctor used a muscle relaxant named baclofen to “flip a switch” and get rid of his cravings for alcohol. He initially tried lower doses which did not seem to have an effect, but higher doses of the drug allowed the doctor to rid himself of the cravings for alcohol, and eventually he was indifferent to alcohol after the drug. Later it was found that there were more cases where this finding was supported.

“The most intuitive explanation for addiction is the traditional view that drugs are taken first because they are pleasant, but with repeated drug use homeostatic neuroadaptations lead to tolerance and dependence, such that unpleasant withdrawal symptoms ensue upon the cessation of use. Compulsive drug taking is maintained, by this view, to avoid unpleasant withdrawal symptoms.” (2002, p. 27)

Taste aversion therapy is where an aversive stimulus is associated with an unwanted behaviour to therefore extinguish it. One of its primary principles is that all types of behaviour is learned and therefore any undesirable behaviour can be unlearned, with the appropriate method (Aversion Therapy, 2014). The experiment produced by Dale S. Cannon, Antonio Gino, Timothy B. Baker and Peter E. Nathan (1986), evaluated the relationship between the strength of the taste aversion and the abstinence rate. Following on, the study founded by James W. Smith and P. Joseph Frawley (1990), determined the alcohol abstinence rates for patients treated for the first time. Furthermore, the study conducted by Matthew Owen Howard (2001) assessed the extent to which pharmacological aversion therapy (PAT) assists in a conditioned aversion to alcohol. All three studies coincide to evaluate if taste aversion therapy for alcoholism produces behavioural change.

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

“Aversion therapy can be used with alcoholics. Alcohol is paired with an emetic drug (a drug which causes nausea and vomiting). Over time the alcoholic associate’s alcohol with being sick and does not