• has the same mechanisms
  • regardless of the drug: shopping, gambling, meth

• agonists don’t exist
• antagonists would block the effect but don’t exist
• anti-withdrawal – not a big problem with computers
• anti-craving – this is a major problem.
  • obesity and alcoholism will be huge markets for the pharma companies

if you’re addicted to your computer, you’re activating your dopamine pathway.

psychological symptoms

• euphoria while at the computer
• inability to stop
• craving more PC time
• neglect of family/friends
• feeling empty/depressed
• lying to employers/family about activities
• problems with school & job

all things ppl get addicted to have a GOOD side and a BAD side.

• novel stimulus regardless of strength
• you need more to get the same effect (tolerance)
• promotes adaptive responses to the drug (you learn i want this)
• changes in intensity of a known stimulus regardless of strength

dopamine gets released from vecicles

then it binds with postsynaptic dopamine receptors

the drugs hijack the dopamine system

this binding causes the reinforcing properties

you’re increasing dopamine to the nucleus accumbens.

“the dopamine reward pathway” is triggered.

cocacola

• relieves exhaustion
• toothache drops (anaesthetic)
  • blocks sodium channels

I steal cable and I enjoy Intervention on A&E.

Have you ever seen this show? It is exploitative, I know.

I think this show has some redeeming qualities, however. It shows regular people really strung out on something – drugs, alcohol, and food are the most common. I don’t particularly like the intervention section of the show but I think that the exhibition of addiction is potentially helpful to Americans. It helps us to see the disease as a human product, not as individual failure.

Some of my students seem addicted to texting. I haven’t framed it in that way to them (getting them to conform to professional norms at my college seems to have some success) but I fear for them actually.