Upgrade to remove ads
Only $2.99/month

Drugs and Behavior Test 1 Book Terms

Terms in this set (74)

psychoactive drugs
Drugs that affect feelings, thoughts, perceptions, or behavior (ch. 1)
illicit drugs
Drugs whose manufacture, sale, or possession is illegal (ch. 1)
licit drugs
Drugs whose manufacture, sale, or possession is legal (ch. 1)
drug dependence
A condition in which an individual feels a compulsive need to continue taking a drug. In the process, the drug assumes an increasingly central role in the individual's life (ch. 1)
drug
A chemical substance that, when taken into the body, alters the structure or functioning of the body in the same way, excluding those nutrients considered to be related to normal functioning (ch. 1)
instrumental use
Referring to the motivation of a drug user who takes the drug for a specific purpose other than getting "high" (ch. 1)
recreational use
Referring to the motivation of a drug user who takes the drug only to get "high" or achieve some pleasurable effect (ch. 1)
drug misuse
Drug-taking behavior in which a prescription or over-the-counter drug is used inappropriately (ch. 1)
drug abuse
Drug-taking behavior resulting in some form of physics, mental, or social impairment (ch. 1)
shamanism
The philosophy and practice of healing in which diagnosis or treatment is based on trance-like states, on the part of either the healer (shaman) or the patient (ch. 1)
shaman
A healer whose diagnosis or treatment of patients is based at least in part on trances. These trances are frequently induced by hallucinogenic drugs (ch. 1)
Ebers Papyrus
An Egyptian document, dated approximately 1500 B.C., containing more than eight hundred prescriptions for common ailments and diseases (ch. 1)
placebo effect
Any change in a person's condition after taking a drug, based solely on that person's beliefs about the drug rather than on any physical effects of the drug (ch. 1)
patent medicine
Historically, a drug or combination of drugs sold through peddlers, shops, or mail-order advertisements (ch. 1)
chlorpromazine
An antipsychotic (antischizophrenia) drug. brand name is Throazine (ch. 1)
neuroscience
The scientific study of the nervous system, undertaken as a collaborative effort among researchers from many scientific disciplines (ch. 1)
risk factors
Factors in an individual's life that increase the likelihood of involvement with drugs (ch. 1)
protective factors
factors in an individual's life that decrease the likelihood of involvement with drugs and reduce the impact that any risk factor might have (ch. 1)
toxicity
The physical or psychological harm that a drug might present to the user (ch. 2)
dose
The quantity of drug that is taken into the body, typically measured in terms of milligrams (mg) or micrograms (ch. 2)
acute toxicity
The physical or psychological harm a drug might present to the user immediately or soon after the drug is ingested into the body (ch. 2)
dose-response curve
An S-shaped graph showing the increasing probability of a certain drug effect as the dose level rises (ch. 2)
effective dose (ED)
The minimal dose of a particular drug necessary to produce the intended drug effect in a given percentage of the population (ch. 2)
lethal dose (LD)
The minimal dose of a particular drug capable of producing death in a given percentage of the population (ch. 2)
therapeutic index
A measure of a drug's relative safety for use, computed as the ratio of the lethal dose for 50 percent of the population to the effective dose for 50 percent of the population (ch. 2)
margin of safety
The ratio of a lethal dose for 1 percent of the population to the effective dose for 99 percent of the population (ch. 2)
Drug Abuse Warning Network (DAWN)
A federal program in which metropolitan hospitals report the incidence of drug-related lethal and nonlethal emergencies (ch. 2)
drug-related ED visit
An occasion on which a person visits an emergency department (ED) for a purpose that is related to recent drug use (ch. 2)
chronic toxicity
The physical or psychological harm a drug might cause over a long period of use (ch. 2)
tolerance
The capacity of a drug to produce a gradually diminished physical or psychological effect upon repeated administrations of the drug at the same dose level (ch. 2)
behavioral tolerance
The process of drug tolerance that is linked to drug-taking behavior occurring consistently in the same surroundings or under the same circumstances. Also known as conditioned tolerance. (ch 2)
physical dependence
A model of drug dependence based on the idea that the drug abuser continues the drug-taking behavior toa void the consequences of physical withdrawal symptoms (ch. 2)
psychological dependence
A model of drug dependence based on the idea that the drug abuser is motivated by a craving for the pleasurable effect of the drug (ch. 2)
catheter
A device to deliver intravenous injections of a drug in a free-moving human or animal (ch. 2)
substance dependence
A diagnostic term used in clinical psychology and psychiatry that identifies an individual displaying significant signs of a dependent relationship with a psychoactive drug (ch. 2)
substance abuse
A diagnostic term used in clinical psychology and psychiatry that identifies an individual who continues to take a psychoactive drug despite the fact that the drug-taking behavior creates specific problems for that individual (ch. 2)
pharmacological violence
Violent acts committed while under the influence of a particular psychoactive drug, with the implication that the drug caused the violence to occur (ch. 2)
economically compulsive violence
Violent acts that are committed by a drug abuser to secure money to buy drugs (ch. 2)
systematic violence
Violence that arises from the traditionally aggressive patterns of behavior within a network of illicit drug trafficking and distribution (ch. 2)
laissez-faire
The philosophy of exerting as little governmental control and regulation as possible (ch. 2)
intravenous (i.v.)
Into a vein (ch. 3)
intramuscular (i.m.)
Into a muscle (ch. 3)
subcutaneous (s.c. or sub-Q)
Underneath the skin (ch. 3)
intranasal
Applied to the mucous membranes of the nose (ch. 3)
sublingual
Applied under the tongue (ch. 3)
transdermal patch
A device attached to the skin that slowly delivers the drug through skin absorption (ch. 3)
biotransformation
The process of changing the molecular structure of a drug into forms that make it easier for the body to excrete it (ch. 3)
metabolite
A by-product resulting from the biotransformation process (ch. 3)
elimination half-life
The length of time it takes for a drug to be reduced to 50 percent of its equilibrium level in the bloodstream (ch. 3)
latency period
An interval of time during which the blood levels of a drug are not yet sufficient for a drug effect to be observed (ch. 3)
synergism
The property of a drug interaction in which the combination effect of two drugs exceeds the effect of either drug administered alone (ch. 3)
potentialism
The property of a synergistic drug interaction in which one drug combined with another drug produces an enhanced effect when one of the drugs alone would have had no effect (ch. 3)
cross-tolerance
A phenomenon in which the tolerance that results from the chronic use of one drug induces a tolerance effect with regard to a second drug that has not been used before (ch. 3)
cross-dependence
A phenomenon in which one drug can be used to reduce the withdrawal symptoms following the discontinuance of another drug (ch. 3)
central nervous system (CNS)
The portion of the nervous system that consists of the spinal cord and the brain (ch. 3)
peripheral nervous system
The portion of the nervous system that consists of nerves and nerve fibers that carry information to the central nervous system and outward to muscles and glands (ch. 3)
sympathetic branch of the autonomic nervous system
The portion of the autonomic nervous system that controls bodily changes that deal with stressful or emergency situations (ch. 3)
parasympathetic branch of the autonomic nervous system
The portion of the autonomic nervous system that controls the bodily changes that lead to increased nurturance, rest, and maintenance (ch. 3)
neuron
The specialized cell in the nervous system designed to receive and transmit information (ch. 3)
cerebral cortex
The portion of the forebrain devoted to a high level of information processing (ch. 3)
synapse
The juncture between neurons. It consists of a synaptic knob, the intervening gap, and receptor sites on a receiving neuron. (ch. 3)
neurotransmitter
A chemical substance that a neuron uses to communicate information at the synapse (ch. 3)
reuptake
The process by which a neurotransmitter returns from the receptor site to the synaptic knob (ch. 3)
acetylcholine
A neurotransmitter active in the parasympathetic autonomic nervous system, cerebral cortex, and peripheral somatic nerves (ch. 3)
norepinephrine
A neurotransmitter active in the sympathetic autonomic nervous system and in many regions of the brain (ch. 3)
dopamine
A neurotransmitter in the brain whose activity is related to emotionality and motor control (ch. 3)
serotonin
A neurotransmitter in the brain whose activity is related to emotionality and sleep patterns (ch. 3)
gamma aminobutyric acid (GABA)
An inhibitory neurotransmitter in the brain. antianxiety drugs tend to facilitate the activity level of GABA in the brain (ch. 3)
glutamate
An excitatory neurotransmitter in the brain. Glutamate receptors are associated with action so PCP and ketamine and with feelings of drug craving (ch. 3)
endorphins
A class of chemical substances, produced in the brain and elsewhere in the body, that mimic the effects of morphine and other opiate drugs (ch. 3)
blood-brain barrier
A system whereby some substances in the bloodstream are excluded from entering the nervous system (ch. 3)
nucleus accumbens
A region in the limbic system of the brain considered to be responsible for the rewarding effects of several drugs of abuse (ch. 3)
placebo
Latin term translated "I will please." Any inert substance that produces a psychological or physiological reaction (ch. 3)
double-blind
A procedure in drug research in which neither the individual administering a chemical substance nor the individual receiving it knows whether the substance is the drug being evaluated or an active placebo (ch. 3)
YOU MIGHT ALSO LIKE...