1.

Addiction is a treatable brain disorder in which people who are addicted cannot control their need for alcohol or drugs. Addicts lose their lack of control 2. Symptoms of addiction: a. Tolerance development of resistance to the effects of alcohol or other drugs over time. b. Withdrawal painful or unpleasant physical response when the substance is withheld. 3. The absence of the drug makes a signal to their rain that is equivalent to the signal of when you are starving. The brain is modified to think that the drug is needed for survival. 4. A recovering addict experiencing lack of control and returning to their substance use is known as relapse. According to professor George Koob, M.D., of the Scripps Research Institute, about 80 percent of addicts who get off drugs through rehab relapse within a year. (http://www.thirteen.org/closetohome/science/html/relapse.html)

1. The frontal lobe governs the following processes: a. Planning b. Abstract thinking c. Regulation of impulse behavior 2. 10 days after the abuser stops cocaine use, their brain activity is significantly lower than a person who has no history of drug abuse. After 100 days, brain activity is still not back to normal. 3. 9 types of addiction: a. Sex b. Shopping c. Gambling d. Food e. Caffeine f. Tobacco g. Drugs h. Alcohol i. Internet 4. Science of Addiction: a. Dopamine is the neurotransmitter that is released from neurons in the reward pathway that makes people feel good. b. Neurons in the reward pathway communicate by sending electrical signals down their axons. c. When dopamine crosses the next neuron, it binds to the receptors, and provides a jolt of pleasure. d. Repeated drug use disrupts the normal processes the control rewards that encourage compulsive drug abuse.

1. Neurotransmitters: a. Dopamine b. Serotonin c. GABA 2. Three points: a. Receptor b. Neurotransmitter transporter c. Neurotransmitter 3. Since meth mimics dopamine, it gets taken in by dopamine transporters. Once in the cell, meth enters dopamine vesicles, forces dopamine out. Transporters start working to pump the excess dopamine out, which causes feelings of pleasure. 4. All drugs work by interfering with the brains natural neurotransmitters. They are different, however, in the way they work on the neurotransmitters.