The Addiction Philosophy Map
11 December 2016
Any long-term activity program usually consists of many embedded in subprograms. Besides, the subprograms can be divided till one comes to the point of a simple action. Such action can be compared with a prick made by a needle. So, we prick a needle to our hand and immediately get a pain reaction. However, the example can be complicated a little. If we do it to test our pain threshold, then we have everything in order and we get what we actually expect. We can prick ourselves accidently and experience some unpleasant feelings, which will make us understand that this action was mistaken and we’ll try to avoid such situations in future. Nevertheless, there’s at least one more way.
One process, behavioral sensitization or reverse tolerance, may increase the chances of uncontrolled ethanol intake and is showing promise in helping to understand how other substances of abuse work. Research has demonstrated that with repeated administration of psychomotor stimulants, such as amphetamine or cocaine, both behavioral and neurochemical responses to a given dose of these drugs are progressively enhanced. This phenomenon contrasts to the well-known observation that repeated drug administration can lead to many diminished responses (i.e., tolerance).