FREE Alcohol and Drug Counselor Ultimate Question and Answers
What factors are the main causes of adolescents' propensity for impulsivity and risk-taking?
Explanation:
Adolescents have a proclivity for impulsivity, disorderly conduct, and risk-taking for a variety of reasons. These include a lack of life experience, high energy, a concurrent demand for involvement and external stimuli, a propensity for peer pressure, and so on. However, the issue of neural immaturity has the greatest impact. The brain's critical areas that handle judgment and emotional regulation are among the last to develop. Early adulthood is when the prefrontal cortex, which governs impulse control, cognition, and foresight, reaches full maturity. The adolescent brain also seems to be more susceptible to the impacts of addictive substances and their consequent physiological implications.
What is the drug a mother can abuse during pregnancy that is the MOST harmful of the following?
Explanation:
Almost all medications that pass the blood-brain barrier will have an impact on the fetus; this can lead to fetal addiction, which may require going through withdrawal symptoms after delivery. Alcohol misuse, however, poses the greatest threat to the growing fetus out of all drug usage. Even occasional drinking during pregnancy, especially in the first three months, can cause birth problems such as skeletal and organ deformities as well as intellectual disability. Some newborns seem healthy at birth but later experience major learning and behavioral issues. Fetal alcohol syndrome (FAS), which frequently includes symptoms including head and facial deformities, mental retardation, heart issues, stunted growth, etc., can result from more frequent alcohol misuse. Fetal alcohol impact is the term used to describe the disease when typical facial features are absent.
What is the reason of the euphoria experienced while using cocaine?
Explanation:
Cocaine causes the release of dopamine, serotonin, and norepinephrine whether it is snorted, injected, or smoked (oral intake is ineffective). Dopamine accumulation causes the main effect, while all other neurotransmitters involved in the process contribute to the euphoria that follows. Cocaine not only increases the release of these important neurotransmitters, but it also prevents their reabsorption in the body by preventing a reuptake transporter from performing its regular duties. After the euphoria wears off, neurotransmitter depletion causes severe dysphoria and depression, which makes it necessary to use the drug again. Serotonin deficiencies appear to make people more susceptible to developing a cocaine addiction.
What percentage of the risk for addiction is primarily genetic?
Explanation:
Studies show that social, parental, cultural, and other factors are important risk factors for drug misuse. However, epidemiological research shows that genetic variables can account for up to 50% of a person's risk for drug abuse. Males are slightly more genetically predisposed than females, and heroin misuse is more genetically predisposed than abuse of any other substance. The influence of heredity in the propensity for substance misuse is also more prominent the greater and more severe the manifestation of drug abuse. Theorists hypothesize that a problem with neurotransmitter production causes a potentially serious demand for self-medication to make up for it.
What are the most common withdrawal symptoms, including severe flu-like symptoms including nausea, vomiting, runny noses, watery eyes, chills, stomach cramps, anorexia, weakness, trembling, and sweating?
Explanation:
In general, withdrawal symptoms from opioids (such as heroin, morphine, codeine, etc.) and their semisynthetic and synthetic derivatives include nauseousness, vomiting, runny nose, watery eyes, chills, abdominal cramps, anorexia, weakness, bone pains, sweating, a sense of panic, and persistent yawning. Convulsions and cardiovascular collapse, which are more severe symptoms, are extremely uncommon. Although flashbacks to previous trips may happen, withdrawal symptoms from hallucinogen and psychedelics are often absent. Insomnia, anxiety, delirium, tremors, and the potential for convulsions (seizures) and mortality are some of the symptoms of barbiturate withdrawal. The withdrawal symptoms from benzodiazepines are comparable to those from barbiturates, however, they may not be quite as bad.
When do benzodiazepines stop being an effective medication for anxiety?
Explanation:
Tolerance to benzodiazepines grows quite quickly. As a result, no matter the dosage, anxiety cannot be properly managed after four months. As using benzodiazepines in combination with alcohol, painkillers, and antihistamines can cause severe respiratory depression and possibly death, polydrug usage is particularly dangerous. Benzodiazepine overdose is the second most common reason for drug-related emergency room admissions in the United States. People must be weaned off of benzodiazepines under medical supervision, typically over a period of months, because tolerance can develop even after use for only two or three weeks.
What is the most common situation that depressants medications (such as alcohol, opiates, barbiturates, and benzodiazepines) are used to treat?
Explanation:
Depression-related neurotransmitter levels are decreased by depressants, while stress-inducing chemicals are inhibited (e.g., adrenalin and cortisol). This is done in part by imitating the body's three endorphins, which are natural analgesics that reduce stress (a contraction of the term endogenous morphine). Depressant abusers, such as heroin users, may use the substance rarely for years without developing an addiction because they lack signs of stress. However, if severe stress occurs, it becomes quite likely that depressive drug misuse will occur. Furthermore, it is hypothesized that the risk of addiction is increased in areas where biological variables may increase susceptibility to stress.