Edexcel Psychology for A Level Yr 2 Revision Guide

Chapter 5 Health psychology Issues around drug-taking Spec spotlight 8.1.1 Issues around drug-taking, including addiction, tolerance, physical and psychological dependency, withdrawal. Apply it Concepts Hua has smoked since she was 16. Now she is in her 30s she wants to stop. However quitting is hard as she has such a craving for cigarettes, especially during work breaks. As for the long train journey home from work, she feels physically unwell until she has a cigarette. The problem now is that she smokes so many a day – it was only one or two a day for fun at 16, but it’s now become a real habit. 1. Explain one example from the context of: (a) Physical dependency. (1) (b) Psychological dependency. (1) 2. Describe how tolerance has affected Hua. (2) 3. Context essay: Discuss issues around Hua’s drug use. (8) Go on, you know you want one… Saying no to a cigarette (or three) is not easy when you are addicted. Dependency Can be psychological and/or physiological. Psychological dependency – compulsion to experience the effects of a drug (‘craving’) because drug is reinforcing: • Increased pleasure = positive reinforcement. • Decreased discomfort = negative reinforcement. • Result = addict more likely to take drug again. Physical dependency – only established when a person stops taking a drug and experiences a withdrawal syndrome. Withdrawal Abstaining or reducing intake after a period of drug use produces symptoms typical of withdrawal. Withdrawal syndrome = set of symptoms that reliably occur together. The specific collection of symptoms is unique to each category of drug (e.g. opioids, sedatives, etc.) and is predictable. Symptoms are usually the ‘opposite’ of the drug’s effects (e.g. alcohol relaxes an alcoholic, but withdrawal produces anxiety). Withdrawal indicates that physical dependency has developed: • The addict experiences some symptoms of withdrawal whenever they cannot get the drug. • This happens often so they become familiar with the symptoms (unpleasant and cause discomfort). • So people continue to take a drug not only to experience pleasurable positive effects but to avoid negative ones. Withdrawal typically has two phases: • Acute withdrawal phase begins within hours of abstaining, and the symptoms gradually diminish over days. • Prolonged withdrawal phase includes symptoms that continue past acute withdrawal (i.e. weeks and months). The withdrawing addict becomes even more sensitive to the cues they associate with the drug (e.g. rituals, locations), so relapse into drug-seeking and drug-taking is common. Tolerance Develops when the response to a given amount of a drug decreases. A larger dose is needed for the same effects (e.g. pleasure). Tolerance is the outcome of repeated exposure to the effects of a drug – three common types: • Functional tolerance – postsynaptic receptors become less sensitive to a drug. • Behavioural tolerance – people learn through experience to adjust behaviour to compensate for a drug’s effects (e.g. alcoholics learn to walk more slowly). • Cross-tolerance – tolerance to one drug generalises to another (e.g. alcohol addicts develop tolerance to sedative effects, so need higher dose of anaesthetic in surgery). Addiction Specific meaning in psychology and medicine – a complex and multifaceted behaviour, outcome of dependency and tolerance. 156 AO1 Description