Psychoactive Drugs Flipped Video Notes by Mandy Rice for AP Psychology – Transcript

00:00So moving right along to our final set of notes on for altered states of consciousness with unit 5 and we're going to talk About psychoactive drugs in this set of note So let's talk about drugs and consciousness and what makes them psychoactive the definition being it's a chemical substance meaning It is external that alters perceptions and mood meaning it impacts consciousness Okay, so that doesn't mean that it has to be incredibly severe narcotic in order for it to affect your consciousness

00:30It could be more mild ones as well Let's talk briefly about dependence and addiction here really quickly with psychoactive drugs So the continued use of psychoactive drugs actually produces a tolerance So the more someone uses that drug the more that you build up a Tolerance to that drug so with repeated exposure to a drug the drugs affect Lessons so it takes bigger doses to get the desired effect

01:00So when someone consumes a psychoactive drug for the first time it's going to create a certain experience Okay, let's say that experience is at a level five. Well, the more that they take the drug They're building up with tolerance the more it's going to take they have to consume more of the drug down the road in order to experience a five of the level that it that it's impacted them I

01:26Do want to go back here really quickly and talk briefly about how psychoactive drugs become just that how they become psychoactive, so we have what's called a blood brain barrier. Okay, and so all the passageways to our brain blood passageways to our brain are Very microscopic. They are much smaller than the rest of the passageways in our body Okay, so they don't let just anything in okay

01:55So the only thing that it does let in is things that are smaller than the blood brain barrier and psychoactive drugs are that Microscopic they're that small that they break the blood brain brain barrier and they do get in and impact our brain on a neural level So withdraw upon stopping taking a drug After addiction, this is huge after addiction one must become addicted physically before they experience withdrawal

02:26So once they stop taking the drug drug once they become addicted users may experience undesirable effects of withdrawal If you have ever seen the movie Ray with Jamie Foxx who plays Ray Charles They do a great depiction of Ray Charles going through withdrawal after essentially going cold turkey from heroin Incredibly intense withdrawal symptoms include sweating even hallucinations

02:56Shaking severe headaches of your vomiting severe illness in general Because your body has become so dependent on this external source that it stopped producing naturally existing materials Okay, because if you think about it the drugs that we take or that we could take they actually mimic Something that already exists in our body. They mimic the neurotransmitters on our body

03:20So if we're providing an artificial source of that our neurotransmitters or our brain stops producing the naturally existing ones So when we stop giving that artificial supply our body freaks out Dependence is the when the absence of a drug may lead to feelings of physical pain intense cravings This is the physical dependence, but then there's also negative emotions for a psychological dependence Here's the thing we humans can become psychologically addicted to anything

03:51Absolutely anything if you think about it even habits are addicting right because they give us Some kind of control and comfort and when we don't have those We react to it. So let's talk about the types of drugs one being depressants depressants are drugs that Depress or reduce neural activity and they slow bodily functions So these include alcohol barbiturates and opiates

04:16Alcohol and low doses relaxes the drink the drinker by slowing down the sympathetic nervous system So this lowers inhibitions and judgments Okay, sympathetic nervous system being what gets us ready for a fight or flight. Well, it slows that down Okay, so there's no more inhibitions So we very much disclose lots of things and slows down our judgment in high doses

04:40Reactions slow speech slurs and skill performance deteriorates also affects memory by disrupting the processing of recent events Into long-term memory it reduces self-awareness and focuses one attention on immediate situation rather than long-term So how does the body react generally takes about an hour to metabolize the alcohol in one drink?

05:04Women will metabolize it slower and this isn't just because they are proportionately smaller, but it's about body mass index and Muscle content if a woman and a man of the same weight consume the same amount of alcohol The woman would be more intoxicated than the man due to the way their bodies are composed men have more muscle Which speeds up the metabolizing of alcohol very interesting

05:30Barbiturates are drugs that mimic the effects of alcohol actually they depress the central nervous system activity and in large doses Can lead to impaired memory and judgment? Numb at all second all and amatol are some examples. These are like tranquilizers Okay, barbiturates are like tranquilizers. The third to present is opium or Opiates in general opium and its derivatives that include morphine. This is what would you would get as an

05:59anesthetic For very severe pain relief, but also anesthesia when going under surgery, but also heroin is opiate These depressed neural activity and temporarily lessening pain and anxiety. They are highly addicting Incredibly addictive. So let's talk about let's talk about each of these opiates and with heroin users get a short-lived feeling of blissful pleasure lasting

06:25Three to five hours and it's followed immediately by a craving for another fix. That's why it's So dangerous the need for progressively larger doses and physical withdrawal symptoms happens immediately And tolerance build builds up immediately So it creates more and more and more meaning the user needs more and more of it making it more and more dangerous

06:49Methadone is often used when trying to combat a heroin addiction at the dosages given the individuals does not get a high yet It is enough to reduce the intense physical cravings for heroin But people can then become addicted to methadone. So it's like the lesser of two evils Next classification of drugs is stimulants These are drugs that excite neural activity and speed up bodily functions including caffeine, nicotine, cocaine, ecstasy, amphetamines and methamphetamines

07:19Caffeine and nicotine increase heart and breathing rate and their their stimulants and other autonomic functions to provide energy Caffeine is actually the most widely used psychoactive drug in the world It's kind of interesting to consider it and nicotine as psychoactive drugs because they're legal and so widely used But it's true caffeine found everywhere including in chocolate right and many over-the-counter medications Most people use it in some form every day

07:48It is the most widely used psychoactive drug increasing a ton of nests and proves mood by mimicking a neurotransmitter It's physically addicting individuals can experience withdrawal if they stop the intake usually from a few days up to a week They'll have headaches be irritable drowsier be tired, especially if they're a regular coffee tea or a pop drinker

08:11So at high doses it can produce anxiety restlessness insomnia and increased heart rate, okay? I'm sure some of us has probably Experiences and having too much caffeine because it's like a socially acceptable psychoactive drug the recommended amount of caffeine per day is 250 milligrams and then this list kind of shows you What is in each?

08:37Drink or item that you might consume with caffeine in it Amphetamines these are also called speed or uppers They suppress appetite and we're once prescribed as diet pills. That's incredibly scary They're no longer prescribed because of tolerance to its appetite suppressant effects It occurs so quickly so you have to immediately take more and more of the drug to maintain its effects It also increases concentration reduces fatigue. It's a stimulant

09:06It can increase anxiety and irritability as well Methamphetamines also called crystal meth. This is the illegal drug manufactured in street laboratories It's either smoked or injected as with all amphetamines after using meth for a while one crashes Exhibiting withdrawal symptoms of fatigue deep sleep intense mental depression and increased appetite

09:33This is immediately after they they are off the high It's highly addictive the after effects include irritability insomnia hypertension Seizures periods of disorientation and occasional violent behavior. It appears that over time to reduce baseline dopamine levels Okay, over time it Reduces baseline dopamine levels leaving the user with it permanently depressed

09:58Functioning not just depressed mood, but depressed functioning overall This picture on the left is a woman pre-methamphetamines After a few years of taking methamphetamines. This is her on the right it it creates some insane physical symptoms and physical side effects After becoming a user. It's really scary stuff Cocaine and illegal simulant drive from the coca leaf

10:28derivatives including no vacane are used today in anesthetics Cocaine was part of coca-cola's original formula. Yes cocaine was in coke. It was replaced in 1903 by caffeine But coca leaves with cocaine extracted for medical purposes are still used today as flavoring in some cola drinks Very interesting when inhaled or snorted reaches that it reaches the brain in minutes It doesn't take long at all producing intense euphoria

10:57Mental alertness and self-confidence which lasts for several minutes usually 10 to 30 minutes if someone is a binge user So again, it's a stimulant creating some pretty intense reactions So with cocaine it blocks the reuptake of dopamine. Okay, so it's an agonist We've talked about this before it's an agonist of dopamine because it blocks its reuptake So the brain is flooded with dopamine produced pleasure

11:27Sensations so making it incredibly addicting because we feel the person the user feels so good upon using it Ecstasy is a simulant and also falling into another classification a mild hallucinogen. It increases empathy meaning feeling You can relate to someone else's emotions Peacefulness and the person feels calm or relaxed, but they also seem to have an unending supply of energy

11:55It's a popular club drug because of this the immediate dehydrating effects Combined with the physical activity because of all the energy causes the person risk So at risk for severe overheating increased blood pressure and death Researchers have found a decline in memory and performance on IQ tests with the use of ecstasy They believe that MDMA causes long-term serotonin changes in the brain leading to reduced serotonin levels

12:23Meaning the person is medically clinically depressed after using ecstasy MDMA is being also called mollies, right and that the Modern-day MDMAs are changing all the time. I mean they have new names all of the time But the chemical makeup of them is changing so frequently that we can't keep up with what's in them And therefore can't treat people when they're overdosing or

12:51Even addicted and helping them come out of that. It's very scary stuff The last class is hallucinogens. These are psychedelic mean meaning mind manifesting drugs They distort perceptions and evoke sensory images in the absence of sensory input. They make one hallucinate LSD one of the most powerful drugs known It only takes one millionth of an ounce to produce altering effects. It was first synthesized

13:18From Rai fungus by Swiss chemist in 1930s. He accidentally ingested a minuscule amount of the substance having the first LSD trip ever a Trip is what you call it. It's not necessarily a high with LSD. It lasts 6 to 14 hours by the way LSD also being called acid Effects can vary greatly. There's visual distortions and hallucinations and that what is in reality is distorted But then you also hallucinate