![]() However, at the core, SUDs involve a biologic process: the effects of repeated exposure to an agent (a substance) on a biologic substrate (the brain) over time ( MacNicol, 2017 Volkow et al., 2019). SUDs often co-occur, and people with stimulant use disorders often also use or misuse other substances ( Timko et al., 2018). SUDs are complex phenomena with numerous psychological, social, familial, emotional, and systemic contributors. Knowledge of the neurobiologic effects of stimulants will give clinicians greater insight into people who use stimulants, how to detect a stimulant use disorder in an individual, and why the treatment approaches described in Chapter 4 are effective. The chapter also discusses how to assess for and diagnose stimulant use disorders. This chapter describes the effects that acute and chronic cocaine and methamphetamine (MA) use, and prescription stimulant misuse, have on a person's brain and behavior. This new information has also improved understanding of appropriate treatment approaches for different SUDs. By mapping the neural pathways of pleasure and pain through the human brain, investigators are beginning to understand how psychoactive substances, including stimulants, interact with various cells and neurochemicals in the brain. These discoveries have helped establish SUD as a biologic brain disease that is chronic and relapsing in nature ( National Institute on Drug Abuse, 2018c Volkow et al., 2019). Basic neurobiologic research has enhanced understanding of the biologic and genetic causes of SUDs. Over the past several decades, research on substances of misuse has vastly improved understanding of human behavior and physiology and the nature of substance use disorders (SUDs). Understanding the changes in the brain that occur as someone becomes addicted to stimulants, experiences withdrawal, or stops using stimulants can also help guide clinicians in their approaches to treatment as well as help them understand behaviors and moods that a patient may experience throughout recovery. The neurobiology of stimulant use disorders underscores the biologic aspects of substance use disorders as a chronic, relapsing medical illness. Ī host of harmful effects can occur from acute and chronic cocaine or methamphetamine use, with some evidence from human studies suggesting that long-term stimulant exposure can cause persistent damage to the brain.This information is critical for clinicians to understand because it explains the course of symptoms and recovery and underscores how difficult it is to quit using/misusing substances without interventions. The other way is by triggering the addiction process, such as by acting on the brain's reward system or through the development of craving. One is neurotoxic (by affecting brain processes such as memory, learning, and other cognitive functions). A stimulant use disorder changes a person's brain in two major ways.
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