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• 1 Health

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• What is health psychology?

  It investigates how and why people behave in unhealthy ways and what can be done to encourage people to adopt a healthier approach.

• What is psychological dependency?

  People usually continue to take drugs because they have a psychological dependency on it, and believe that they cannot function or cope without it.

• What is physical dependency?

  Drugs change the way our body works by changing the way neurotransmitters operate in the brain.

• How does alcohol affect the body?

  Alcohol is an antagonist, these are drugs which bind onto receptor sites on a neuron and inhibit it, So the message is prevented from passing from neuron to neuron, so alcohol acts as a depressant which slows the brain activity down. As the brain activity is reduced the transmission of messages between neurons becomes less and less effective. This can result in poor concentration, sluggish behaviour, slurred speech and confusion.

• What is the mode of action of alcohol?

  Alcohol binds to GABA receptor sites making GABA more effective and depressing activity in the brain. GABA slows down the speed at which messages are transmitted through the neurons. This relaxes us and makes us feel more confident. Alcohol also stops nerve endings at noradrenaline synapses working as effectively and this reduced noradrenaline uptake effects our ability to focus and concentrate. Alcohol slows our reflexes due to the suppression of noradrenaline functions.

• What are the withdrawal symptoms of alcohol?

  Symptoms appear within 8-12 hours, they include shaking, cramp, nausea, sweating, irregular heartbeat and vivid dreams.

• What is the mode of action of heroin?

  It is an opiate, so is derived from the opium poppy and is a chemically altered form of morphine. It acts as a rush of endorphin's into the brain. It floods the endorphin receptors on the dendrites. By locking out the receptors that transmit pain, it stops the brains ability to register pain. It hydrolises into morphine in the brain, preventing the release of GABA whose role is to stop the release of dopamine, so now dopamine floods the brain and leads to feelings of elation.

• What are the effects of heroin?

  They slow down the breathing and make the user feel relaxed and sleepy, it slows down the heart rate and can cause death. It can also make the user feel flushed, hot and sweaty. Or make the user feel nauseous and constipated as heroin slows down the movement of food through the body.

• What is tolerance of heroin?

  The neurones in the brain adapt to heroin, and so are not as sensitive to it, this means the user has become tolerant to the drug and requires a higher dose to get the same effect. Dosage rates could increase by 10 x in 3-4 months. Regular users take the amount that would kill a non-user. Eventually no amount of the drug will produce a high, and the individual will only keep taking the drug to delay withdrawal symptoms. So they are addicted as this point because they need the drug for normal functioning.

• What is the dependency of heroin?

  Physiological dependency builds as tolerance builds because the user needs the drug for everyday functioning. Psychological dependence is when the heroin user is driven to reproduce the feelings of satisfaction produced by the drug and avoid the discomfort of withdrawal. This can lead the addict to be less concerned with maintaining contact with family and friends as their focus becomes finding the next fixed.