Repeated administration of psychostimulant drugs induces a long-term state of sensitization in the mesolimbic dopamine system. This hyperdopaminergic state is associated with enhanced reward-seeking behaviors. Such aberration of incentive motivational processing is suggested to facilitate the initiation and maintenance of compulsive drug-taking behaviors. A defining characteristic of addiction is the persistence to pursue drug reinforcement despite negative consequences associated with administration. Thus, it is likely that addicts frequently experience states of motivational conflict to both seek and avoid the drug. The present study investigated the effects of repeated cocaine exposure on goal-seeking behaviors in rats, utilizing conflict paradigms wherein positive and negative incentive motivations were simultaneously evoked. Here it was shown that cocaine-experienced rats displayed both enhanced approach and avoidance behaviors, depending upon the conditions put forth in each paradigm. The results contribute to elucidating the consequences of drug administration upon basic motivational processes that may influence compulsive drug-taking behaviors.

Learning and memory mechanisms that are normally related to natural rewards, such as long-term potentiation (LTP) and depression (LTD), may be usurped by the voluntary intake of drugs of abuse. The maladaptive behaviour that characterizes addiction is thought to arise from persistent changes in excitatory synaptic function in brain reward circuits. The oval region of the dorsal bed nucleus of the stria terminalis (ovBST) is one such region susceptible to drug-induced synaptic remodeling and is implicated in drug-driven behaviors, reinforcement and stress-induced relapse to drug-seeking. Using whole-cell voltage clamp recordings of ovBST neurons in brain slices prepared from adult Long-Evans rats, we demonstrated an unrestrained increase in AMPAR-mediated excitatory transmission with maintenance of cocaine self-administration. This is unlike self-administration of a natural reward, in which we observed an enhancement and then decline of AMPAR-mediated transmission with continued intake. Additionally, we demonstrate impairment in NMDAR-mediated LTD in ovBST neurons with cocaine self-administration. This impairment may be due to resilient GluN2B-containing NMDARs, as application of a GluN2B-antagonist rescued impaired LTD. Based on models of NMDAR-mediated bidirectional plasticity we suggest that a drug-induced de-regulation between GluN2A and GluN2B subunits impairs LTD, which may underlie the enhancement AMPAR-mediated transmission. / Thesis (Master, Neuroscience Studies) -- Queen's University, 2012-05-31 09:46:39.312

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Title: What influences the assessment of addiction treatment? - Factors that may affect the choice of interventions There are few studies on trauma and the importance of religion for the professional handling of abuse clients in a Swedish context. It is therefore appropriate to examine the role of such factors. This study examines whether experienced trauma in childhood or religious beliefs influence the assessment and selection of input in fictitious cases. To examine this created six vignettes. Vignettes could assess participants using different set responses. The questionnaire consisted of two parts, vignettes and personal details of the participants. It included questions about experienced trauma and religious beliefs. The results of the study show that the abuse case officers with experienced trauma deems equivalent to the group but have experienced trauma. Religious officials, however, differ from the non-religious in assessing the choice of effort. The study shows that one third of abuse officers are religious and half have experienced a trauma in childhood. Overall, this means that 58 of the 93 participants either experienced trauma, religious or both. Future research might examine these variables more carefully operationalize and measure religion and traumas impact assessment with greater precision and sensitivity. Keywords: Assessment, misuse, addiction, religion, trauma / Det finns få studier om trauma och religionens betydelse för professionell handläggning av missbruksklienter i en svensk kontext. Det är därför motiverat att undersöka betydelsen av sådana faktorer. Denna studie undersöker om upplevt trauma i barndomen eller religiös övertygelse påverkar bedömningen och val av insats i fiktiva fall. För att undersöka detta skapades sex vinjetter. Vinjetterna kunde deltagarna bedöma med hjälp av olika fasta svarsalternativ. Enkäten bestod av två delar, vinjetterna och personliga uppgifter om deltagarna. Där ingick frågor om upplevt trauma och religiös övertygelse. Resultatet av studien visar att missbrukshandläggarna med upplevt trauma bedömer likvärdigt med gruppen utan upplevt trauma. Religiösa handläggare skiljer sig dock från de icke-religiösa vid bedömningen av val av insats. I studien framkommer att en tredjedel av missbrukshandläggarna är religiösa och hälften har upplevt ett trauma i barndomen. Sammantaget innebär detta att 58 av 93 deltagare antingen har upplevt trauma, är religiös eller är både och. Framtida forskning kan kanske undersöka dessa variabler noggrannare operationalisera och mäta religion och traumas inverkan på bedömningen med större precision och känslighet. Nyckelord: Handläggning, missbruk, beroende, religion, trauma

Repeated administration of psychostimulant drugs induces a long-term state of sensitization in the mesolimbic dopamine system. This hyperdopaminergic state is associated with enhanced reward-seeking behaviors. Such aberration of incentive motivational processing is suggested to facilitate the initiation and maintenance of compulsive drug-taking behaviors. A defining characteristic of addiction is the persistence to pursue drug reinforcement despite negative consequences associated with administration. Thus, it is likely that addicts frequently experience states of motivational conflict to both seek and avoid the drug. The present study investigated the effects of repeated cocaine exposure on goal-seeking behaviors in rats, utilizing conflict paradigms wherein positive and negative incentive motivations were simultaneously evoked. Here it was shown that cocaine-experienced rats displayed both enhanced approach and avoidance behaviors, depending upon the conditions put forth in each paradigm. The results contribute to elucidating the consequences of drug administration upon basic motivational processes that may influence compulsive drug-taking behaviors.

With approximately 7% of the adult population reporting to have taken illicit substances over the course of a year and the chronically relapsing nature of substance use disorders there is a great need for effective forms of treatment and therapies to reduce relapse. Deep brain stimulation (DBS) is a process of neuromodulation where electrodes are implanted in a target region to modulate the electrophysiological activity of the target region. DBS has been postulated as a potential therapy for treatment-refractory addiction, with a great deal of focus on the nucleus accumbens (NAc). Forty male Long Evans rats were implanted with unilateral stimulating electrodes within the right NAc prior to exposure to chronic cocaine self-administration (0.5 mg/kg/infusion). Following self administration, the animals were withdrawn from cocaine and treated with 14 consecutive days of sham, low frequency (LF, 20 Hz) or high frequency (HF, 160 Hz) stimulation sessions (30 min/day). The animals underwent drug seeking tests on days 1, 15 and 30 of the withdrawal phase with context-induced relapse paired with a drug challenge (5 mg/kg i.p). Relapse rates were highest on day 15 after withdrawal, with both LF and HF attenuating cocaine during this drug-seeking test, however this was not the case for tests on days 1 and 30. Motivation to respond for saccharin solution (0.1 %) remained intact following both LF and HF stimulation intake sessions. These results demonstrate that unilateral DBS of the NAc effectively attenuated cocaine-seeking following chronic exposure to stimulation although these beneficial effects appeared to diminish following cessation of daily treatment with stimulation. The results obtained in this experiment provide support for DBS as a potential therapy for patients with treatment-resistant cases of substance use disorders.

Bakgrund: Missbruk och beroende definieras olika i samhället. Personer med missbruk och beroende kan inom hälso- och sjukvården jämföras med att ha en hjärtsjukdom eller liknande. Attityder innefattar tre komponenter; kunskap-, tanke- och känslokomponent. Dessa påverkar hur människan skapar attityder till ett visst fenomen. Negativa attityder är vanligt förekommande bland hälso- och sjukvårds personal gällande denna patientgrupp. Syfte: Syftet med denna litteraturöversikt var att beskriva hur omvårdnaden påverkades av sjuksköterskors attityder till patienter med beroende av droger. Metod: Metoden i detta examensarbete var en litteraturöversikt som baseras på elva vetenskapliga originalartiklar hämtade från databaserna Cinahl och PubMed. Artiklarna har analyserats genom att urskilja likheter och skillnader, för att sedan sammanställas i ett resultat. Resultat: Kunskap och utbildning hade stor inverkan på sjuksköterskors attityder till patienter med beroende. Sjuksköterskor visades ha stereotypa uppfattningar till denna patientgrupp att vara våldsamma, manipulerande och oärliga. I dagens hälso- och sjukvård anses beroende mer som ett självförvållat tillstånd än som en sjukdom. Diskussion: Resultatdiskussionen diskuterar resultatet med stöd av Katie Erikssons omvårdnadsteori. Kunskap, stöd och att se människan i relation till drogen är ämnen som tas upp i denna del. / Background: Substance abuse and addiction defines differently in society. People with substance abuse and addiction can in the health care system be compared to having a heart disease or similar. Attitudes include three components; knowledge, mental and emotional. These affect how man creates attitudes toward a particular phenomenon. Negative attitudes are common among health care professionals regarding substance abusers and dependents. Aim: The aim of this literature review was to describe how nursing care was affected by nurses' attitudes towards patients with drug addiction. Methods: The method used in this thesis is a literature review based on eleven original scientific articles retrieved from the databases of Cinahl and PubMed. These articles were analyzed by distinguish similarities and differences, and then compiled in a result. Results: Knowledge and education had great impact on nurses' attitudes toward patients with substance addiction. Nurses appeared to have stereotype views for this patient group to be violent, manipulative and dishonest. In today's society, addiction is seen more as a self-induced condition then a disease. Discussions: The result discussion examines the results under Katie Eriksson's theory of nursing. The topics of knowledge, support, and to see the person in relation to the drug, are covered in this discussion.

Sexual compulsivity describes poorly controlled sexual thoughts, fantasies, urges, and behavior. The purpose of the current study was to examine and compare, utilizing a non-clinical sample, the relative psychometric properties of two existing scales used to assess sexual compulsivity, the Sexual Compulsivity Scale and the Compulsive Sexual Behavior Inventory. Participants were 334 male undergraduate students ranging in age from 18 to 42 years (M =19.54, SD = 2.16) enrolled in Introductory Psychology courses at a mid-sized Midwestern university. Zero-order correlation analyses were conducted to identify which sexual behaviors and constructs associated with sexuality were significantly related to scores on the CSBI and the SCS. Examination of the differential patterns of sexuality relations suggests the CSBI and the SCS may measure different aspects of compulsivity. Step-wise regression analyses indicated that the use of drugs and alcohol to gain compliance from a sexual partner, fantasies of impersonal sex, and sexual anxiety were significant predictors for both the CSBI and the SCS. On the CSBI, the final predictor that accounted for a significant increase in variance accounted for was expressing anger, while on the SCS additional variance was accounted for by sexual preoccupation. Implications, limitations, and future directions are discussed. / Department of Psychological Science

The purpose of this research was to compare and contrast the components and characteristics of selected widely available smoking cessation programs.To reach this goal, an evaluation form was developed after an extensive review of the literature which addressed the structure, duration, techniques, issues which were discussed, success rates and availability of the programs. This form was tested for content validity by a jury of experts and was used to review each of thirteen selected smoking cessation programs. The reviews were conducted by the author using program materials received from the sponsoring organizations. Any questions which could not be answered with these materials were answered through a telephone interview with a representative of the sponsoring organization.Once the reviews were completed, the information was transferred to table form and to a database so that collective data could be generated. The following conclusions were drawn from the table and the data generated: the existing smoking cessation programs appear to have been developed utilizing suggestions offered in to use similar program techniques, and a great deal of variance exists in terms of success rates and cost. / Department of Physiology and Health Science

Looking at humankind and all the weight issues/problems, researchers ask one question: "Why do some people have problems with compulsive eating?" Throughout the years many studies has been done about Bulimia and Anorexia as eating behaviours, but not a lot of studies have been done about the theological area concerning research on compulsive eating disorders. From a Biblical and Christian-theological perspective, we find that God created the human as a being who is good and pure but as a result of disobedience, we are all sinners. Through sin, humankind is polluted; therefore humankind struggles to be in control of its own nature in itself. Because of sin, the whole trinity and harmony between God and His creation was disturbed. With a plan and a solution, God sent His only beloved Son, Jesus Christ to earth so that He could die for our sins on the cross. Jesus Christ, our Mediator, return to help us restore the balance between food and humankind. Looking at other social science research, we can see that eating disorders have been looked at and discussed in the medical world for at least the last century. An empirical research has been done with persons who believe that they are compulsive eaters. Through research, they discovered that the participants either had a very unpleasant childhood or during adulthood had had very difficult or unhappy relationships. It is because of these reasons that the researcher tried to establish that pastoral counseling could possibly help with healing. It can be a long and hard road to recovery because compulsive eating disorders can also be related to addiction. Research has shown that each person has to work on his/her relationships with him, God our Father, humankind and nature. The counselee has to acknowledge that he has a problem and there must be a deep desire to get healed systematically the counselee gets help/counseling through proposals as well as through deliberation. The counselee has to have a will to get healed as well as have the dedication to get rid of the addiction or habit through the help and strength of our beloved Father. / Thesis (M.A. (Pastoral)--North-West University, Potchefstroom Campus, 2009.