Cigarette addiction that examines the effects of opiate use, both short and long term. The authors postulate when a stimulus causes an arousal of emotion a negative feedback loop occurs, causing the opposite of what the stimulus elicited. An example of this would be (A) intense fear followed by (B) intense relief. As part of this experiment they examined data on IV opiate users to see test this theory. During the first few exposures the participants initially experienced a “rush” and a mild euphoria followed by cravings for the drug and mild withdrawal symptoms. As exposure increased, they found that the initial effects (Stage A) were lessened and the subsequent effects (Stage B) were intensified, meaning that the “rush” and euphoria were felt much less intensely but the cravings and withdrawal were much more severe. The brain takes much longer to return to baseline after it has been exposed to a stimulus repeatedly. A person who is experiencing heightened craving and withdrawal would find it very challenging to abstain opiates for a long enough time to return to their baseline. This theory does explain why opiate users continue to use drug even when this use comes with harsh consequences, however, it does not explain why relapse often occurs after long periods of
Cigarette addiction that examines the effects of opiate use, both short and long term. The authors postulate when a stimulus causes an arousal of emotion a negative feedback loop occurs, causing the opposite of what the stimulus elicited. An example of this would be (A) intense fear followed by (B) intense relief. As part of this experiment they examined data on IV opiate users to see test this theory. During the first few exposures the participants initially experienced a “rush” and a mild euphoria followed by cravings for the drug and mild withdrawal symptoms. As exposure increased, they found that the initial effects (Stage A) were lessened and the subsequent effects (Stage B) were intensified, meaning that the “rush” and euphoria were felt much less intensely but the cravings and withdrawal were much more severe. The brain takes much longer to return to baseline after it has been exposed to a stimulus repeatedly. A person who is experiencing heightened craving and withdrawal would find it very challenging to abstain opiates for a long enough time to return to their baseline. This theory does explain why opiate users continue to use drug even when this use comes with harsh consequences, however, it does not explain why relapse often occurs after long periods of