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Pychology + Marketing

If you haven’t already, take 5 minutes today…

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Soldier in the ArmyThis Memorial weekend, my pops was stoked to share a slideshow of some old pics he scanned. This dapper lad is him, the day he was discharged from the Army.  He was called for active duty shortly after marrying my mom –  before I was born. Bless her heart for bundling me up, and hauling her fussy newborn through LaGuardia onto a transatlantic flight; It couldn’t have been easy, but as soon as I was “big enough,” she took me overseas to meet him!

We lived there until the day of this photo, when we moved back stateside. I did a bunch of cool things as a bebe, like visit the Alps and waddle through famous German gardens and forests – none of which I remember, but the photos are cool. Can’t be sure, but I like to joke that the experience at least partially contributed to my explorer ways…

Anywho, I wanted to do something nice this Memorial Day for our heroes, and found Soldiers Angels. I just finished the first letter to my adopted soldier, complete with a questionnaire and lucky charm – a coin a Navy friend brought back from South Africa. It’s a great organization, and gives you a personal way to support our troops.

There are more than 1400 soldiers waiting for an angel. Please take 5 minutes to send a care package, or adopt your own solider today.

Biopsychology of Drug Addiction

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Specificity of Drug Tolerance

Drug Tolerance is a decreased sensitivity to a drug that develops due to exposure. In short, more and more of a drug is needed to achieve the same response. It can also be shown when the same dose has effect over time. This is sown by a shift to the right in the dose-response curve.

  • Cross Tolerance – Exposure to one drug can produce tolerance to other drugs that act by the same mechanism
  • Drug Sensitization – Increases in the sensitivity to a drug. You can become tolerant to some effects of a drug, but not others.
  • Not a unitary phenomenon – When a drug is administered at active doses, all kinds of changes can occur to reduce its effects.

How Drug Tolerance Happens

  • Metabolic Tolerance – Changes that reduce the amount of the drug getting to an activation site (increasing the rate it is broken down in the liver)
  • Functional Tolerance – Results from changes that reduce the reactivity of the sites of action to the drug; tolerance to psychoactive drugs (those that change your thoughts, feelings, perceptions and behaviors) is typically functional, and shown by many experiments to be the result of Pavlovian conditioning. In one experiment (Crowell, Hinson & Siegel, 1981), rats injected with alcohol only demonstrated hypothermic effects (temperature reducing) only when they were given alcohol in the same room as it was previously administered. This, and many other experiments, demonstrates the Situational Specificity of drug tolerance.

Conditioned Compensatory Responses – According to Siegal, conditional stimuli that predict drug administration elicit conditional responses opposite to the unconditional effects of the drug – ie, if someone is in a situation where previous drug use has occurred, changes in the nervous system occur to counteract the effects. The day you experience a Conditioned Compensatory Response, you have a craving or physiological need for a drug.

Physical Dependence on Drugs

Occurs when people suffer from withdrawal symptoms when they stop taking a drug, and it is eliminated from their system. Withdrawal symptoms are almost always the opposite of the initial effects of a drug, which suggests that they are produced by the same neural changes that produce drug tolerance.

Biological Theories of Drug Addiction

What is Drug Addiction?

Addicts are habitual users; however, not all habitual users are addicts. The difference is that addicts continue to use a drug despite adverse on their health/life, and repeated, failed efforts to stop using it.

Physical Dependence Theory of Addiction

The earliest models of addiction were based on a theory that suggested drug addicts are driven by an aversion to withdrawal symptoms. However, attempts to gradually curtail drug use in addicts show that nearly all detoxified addicts return to former drug-taking habits. Another piece of evidence is that some drugs, like cocaine and amphetamines, do not produce withdrawal symptoms. Finally, some drugs involve cycles of binges and detoxification, which indicated detoxification does not prevent addicts from renewing their habits.

Positive Incentive Theory

The Positive Incentive Theory suggests that addiction is caused by the anticipated pleasure of taking a drug. Robinson and Berridge’s Incentive Sensitization Theory argue that it isn’t the liking of drug taking, but the anticipated pleasure, that creates addiction, so that in cases of chronic use, the incentive value is often disproportionate to the actual pleasure derived from it. Hence, even though the drugs result in misery, addicts continue to crave them even more.

What Causes a Drug Addict to Relapse?

  • Stress – The major factor in relapse.
  • Priming – Users who have abstained believe that their addiction is under control; however, one use and they often plunge back into addiction;
  • Environmental Cues – Anything previously associated with the drug (times, places, people, objects) associated with the drug can induce relapse.

Facts About Commonly Used Drugs

Tobacco and alcohol have much larger negative health effects on Americans than marijuana, cocaine and heroin

Tobacco

  • Nicotine is the major psychoactive ingredient
  • Responsible for over 3 million deaths per year worldwide (about 450,000 in the US, and about 20% of all deaths in Western countries)
  • High tolerance develops
  • 70% of experimenters become addicted versus 10% for alcohol and 30% for heroin
  • Only 20% of attempts to quit are successful for 2 years or more
  • Nicotine addiction has a genetic component with 65% heritability
  • Smokers are actually more tense than non-smokers; stress level increase between cigarettes
  • Buerger’s Disease – Blood vessels in the legs constrict when nicotine enters the system, leads to gangrene and amputation
  • Smoking during pregnancy increases the risk of miscarriage, stillbirth and early death of a child; levels of nicotine in breastfed infants is nearly as high as in the blood of their smoking mothers

Alcohol

  • 100,000 Americans die each year from alcohol-related diseases and accidents, and is involved in about 3% of all deaths in the US
  • Alcohol is classified as a depressant because it decreases neural firing; at low doses, it can stimulate neural firing and sociability
  • Alcohol has a major genetic component; 55% heritability
  • Blood levels at 0.5% causes risk of death from respiratory depression
  • A  hangover is actually alcohol withdrawal
  • Delirium tremens (DTs) – third phase of withdrawal which starts about 1 to 2 days after cessation, and lasts 3 to 4 days, causes hallucinations, delusions, agitation, confusion, high temperature, and increased heart rate
  • Chronic alcohol consumption is associated with extensive brain damage
  • Korsakoff’s Syndrome – neuropsychological disorder characterized by severe memory loss, sensory and motor dysfunction, and dementia

Marijuana (Cannabis Sativa)

  • Psychoactive ingredient is THC (delta-9-tetrahydrocannabinol) which are in the form of a sticky resin on the leaves and flowering part of the plant; when extracted, this is called hashish
    Can be smoked, or baked into an oil-rich substrate and ingested orally
  • Usage goes back 6,000 to China
  • George Washington grew cannabis for rope
  • Some laws classify marijuana as a narcotic; however, the structures of the active ingredients, physiological and behavior effects bear no resemblance to other narcotics
  • High  doses impair psychological functioning – short term memory impairment and ability to perform multi-step tasks, slurred speech, limited ability to have a meaningful conversation
  • Seems to curb aggressive behavior
  • Low addiction potential, but tolerance does develop, no obvious withdrawal symptoms
  • Most scientists agree that small amounts have few, if any, permanent adverse effects, and long-term adverse effects are fewer than legal drugs like alcohol and nicotine
  • Respiratory problems are common, as is elevated heart rate
  • Anadamide is a clone of the THC-like chemical that binds to the receptor, but function is still unknown; it may protect the brain from excitotoxicity; mice without these receptors are more susceptible to seizures

Cocaine & Stimulants

  • Stimulants increase neural and behavioral activity
  • Coca-Cola is a mild stimulant that uses caffeine, but originally contained small amounts of cocaine
  • Cocaine is derived primarily in Peru and Bolivia from the coca bush
  • Cocaine hydrochlorida is the white powder most people are familiar with, and it is usually snorted or injected
  • Crack is an impure form of cocaine residue that is usually smoked
  • 1.5 million Americans used cocaine or crack in the last month
  • Often consumed in binges, like alcohol
  • Cocaine psychosis is similar to paranoid schizophrenia
  • Extremely addictive, but mild withdrawal symptoms
  • Blocks the reuptake of catecholamines (dopamine, norepinephrine, and epinephrine)
  • Amphetamines (speed) has effects similar to cocaine; methamphetimines (METH) and MDMA/Esctacy are other popular forms of amphetamines
  • Stimulants are neurotoxins and a large cause for concern; MDMA has been shown to have toxic effects on serotonergic and dopaminergic neurons, and has been shown to cause brain damage
  • Women who use stimulants while pregnant often have children with lower IQs

Opiates: Heroin & Morphine

  • Opium contains morphine and codeine, a weaker derivative
  • Unmatched at painkillers, and can be used to treat coughs
  • Also highly addictive
  • Practice of eating opium became popular in the Middle East around 4000 B.C.
  • Harrison Narcotics Act 1914 made it illegal to sell or use opium, morphine or cocaine, but not heroin, which can penetrate the blood-brain barrier
  • In 1989, Bayer Drug Company marketed heroin, which was available without a prescription, as a non-addictive super-aspirin; it became illegal in 1942
  • About 130,000 Americans currently use heroin
  • Direct health hazards of chronic exposure are fairly minor
  • Dr. William Stewart Halsted, one of the founders of John Hopkins, is rumored to have regularly used opiates
  • Moderate withdrawal symptoms comparable to the flu; sometimes exaggerated in media; not as dangerous or terrifying as withdrawal from barbiturates or alcohol
  • Treatment programs report about a 10% rate

Addictions: Neural Mechanisms of Motivation

Drug Self-Administration Paradigm – Laboratory rats and primates can learn to self-administer addictive drugs, just like humans do
Conditioned Place Preference Paradigm – Drug-free rats will prefer the less comfortable compartment in which drugs were previously administered; importance is that they are tested while drug-free to avoid effects of drugs on behavior

Dopamine & Drug Addiction

Mesotelencephalic Dopamine System – The neurons which compose the brain’s dopamine system are the substantia nigra and ventral tegmental areas in the brain. Most of the axons of dopaminergic neurons have cell bodies in the substantia nigra and project into the dorsal striatum (nigrostriatal pathway). The degeneration of this pathway is associated with Parkinson’s disease.

Get Help for Drug Addiction

If you, or someone you know, suffers from Drug Addiction, get help from a professional. Each drug addiction counseling session an addict undergoes is a step towards building a brighter future without drugs.

Neuroscientists Analyze Searches On Sexual Desires

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Search queries offer a new source of data for many things, even what computational neuroscientists Ogi Ogas and Sai Gaddam call “true” sexual desires. The new book, “A Billion Wicked Thoughts,” co-authored by the duo and scheduled for release on May 5, analyzes 1 billion Web searches from around the world.

Aside from the United States, search data now makes it possible to look at sexual behavior with clarity in Saudi Arabia, Japan, India, Germany, Italy, Russia, and other countries.

Read the entire article at MediaPost.

The Benefits of Mindfulness Meditation

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Mindfulness Meditation if Good for Your Brain

Mindfulness Meditation Changes Your Brain

A new study led by Britta Hölzel, PhD, a psychologist at Massachusetts General Hospital and Harvard Medical School, provides evidence that mindfulness meditation isn’t just good for you – it actually changes your brain!

The published article (Mindfulness Practice leads to increases in regional gray matter) appeared in the 1/30/2011 issue of Psychiatry Research: Neuroimaging.

This is a review of the study for my biopsychology class.

Determining Brain Changes After a Mindfulness Meditation Course

The goal of this research study was to identify parts of the brain that changed based upon participation in an 8-week Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction (MBSR) course by objectively correlating them with measurable neurological changes.

To prepare for the study, the researchers reviewed many different pieces of background literature that indicated mindfulness meditation provides psychological benefits, like those by Ruth Bauer in 2003, and Paul Grossman in 2004.

Some of the therapeutic benefits they investigated included previous research on mindfulness meditation in relation to anxiety (Roemer et al., 2008), depression (Teasdale et al., 2000), substance abuse (Bowen et al., 2006), eating disorders (Tapper et al., 2009) and chronic pain (Grossman et al., 2007), as well as:

  • Studies around awareness and perceptual shifts, like those by Kabatt-Zinn in 1990, and Carmody in 2009;
  • Studies that used neuroimaging techniques to study mindfulness, including EEG (Davidson, et al., 2003; Slagter et al, 2009) and MRI (Farb et al., 2007; Lutz et al, 2008; and Goldin and Gross 2010; and many others);
  • Studies related to plasticity and changes in the brain during mindfulness meditation (Draganski et al 2006; Mechelli et al, 2004; Milad et al, 2005; and others).

In the study, researchers do not explicitly state how they hoped to improve upon previous research. However, my assumption based on the introduction is that they hoped to verify and improve upon research related to which parts of the brain undergo changes during mindfulness meditation, as well provide scientific proof that the 8-week program is a worthwhile investment.

The hypothesis was that they would find changes in the brain’s gray matter, specifically the insula and hippocampus, as well as other “whole brain” changes, that relate to learning and memory, emotional regulation, self-referential processing and perspective taking.

Methods Used in the Mindfulness Meditation Study

The study was rather small, and only consisted of 16 participants (6 males and 10 female) who were seeking to reduce stress and enrolled in the MBSR course held at the Center for Mindfulness at the University of Massachusetts Medical School. They were carefully screened to ensure they were both physically and psychologically healthy, not taking any medications, and had not participated in any recent meditation classes.

The average demographics were:

  • Age: 38;
  • Ethnicity: 13 Caucasian; 1 Asian; 1 African American; 1 multi-ethnic;
  • Education: 18 years.

Based upon this information, the sample size definitely does not accurately represent the general population. It is limiting by all characteristics, and skewed heavily toward college-educated, Caucasian females in their 30s. Interestingly, all participants were also right-handed.

The authors of the study used voxel-based morphometry (VBM) to study changes in the brain’s gray matter. Wikipedia explains VBM as, “A neuroimaging analysis technique that allows investigation of focal differences in brain anatomy by registering every brain to a template, which gets rid of most of the large differences in brain anatomy among people. Then the brain images are smoothed so that each voxel represents the average of itself and its neighbors.”

In addition, each participant was given an MRI at the Martinos Center for Biomedical Imaging in Charlestown, MA. Finally, each participant completed the Five Facet Mindfulness Questionnaire (FFMQ) pre and post intervention. Measurements for each participant were taken before and after the 8-week mindfulness meditation course.

Results After the Mindfulness Meditation Course

The results of the mindfulness study are as follows:

  • Amount of mindfulness practice – No significant correlations were found in brain changes as they related to body scan and yoga, body scan and sitting meditation, and yoga and sitting meditation.
  • Improvements in mindfulness – MBSR program participants showed significant increases in three of five mindfulness subscales: acting with awareness, observing and non-judging.
  • Gray matter changes in a priori region – A small cluster in the left hippocampus showed increased gray matter.
  • Whole brain analysis – Four clusters in the brain showed an increase in gray matter, including the cingulate cortex, one in the left temporoparietal lobe, and two in the cerebellum, one of which was centered in the vermis and extended into the brain stem.

With this in mind, the hypothesis of the researchers was correct because the study was able to correlate specific changes in both the hippocampus and other areas of the brain’s gray matter, specifically the PCC, TPJ and cerebellum, to the participation in the MBSR program.

The areas identified in this study are known to regulate control of emotion (hippocampus and one area of the cerebellum), conscious experience (TPJ region), introspection/processing self-referential stimuli (PCC region), and the site of synthesis and release of the neurotransmitter norephinephrine, which plays a significant role in how our bodies respond to stress, as well as the release of serotonin (the area by the brain stem). This last area is also the place where antidepressant medications are synthesized, and is associated with a variety of clinical dysfunctions related to depression, anxiety, sleep and more.

Discussion of the Benefits of Mindfulness Meditation

The overall conclusion of the study is that thanks to the plasticity of the adult nervous system, people suffering from stress can benefit both physically and psychologically by participating in a MBSR program, like the intervention used during this research study.

The implication is that rather than relying on prescription (or non-prescription) drugs for relief from stress, Americans can achieve greater health benefits from holistic, alternative forms of medicine.

Due to some of the limitations of the study, however, additional research needs to be conducted to determine the extent of these benefits. For example, one areas that needs explored is the age range in which these benefits can be achieved, as well as if they are achieved in both “right-brain” and “left-brain” people. Furthermore, additional investigation around the different types of meditation would be needed to clarify which is most beneficial to treat specific concerns and health issues.

Personal Thoughts on Mindfulness Meditation

In conclusion, I feel that this is a great study because it helps reinforce to the general population, as well as physicians and insurance companies, that these types of natural solutions offer REAL health benefits – ones that may be better than our traditional  Western methods. The current state of our healthcare system is a testament to the fact that drugs are not a good solution. We are taking more medications than ever before, with the result being an increase in sickness and disease.

Perhaps with more studies like this one to support the medical benefits associated with mindfulness meditation and other natural solution, physicians will be more inclined to write prescriptions for these types of therapies, rather than prescribing Prozac and other antidepressants, and insurance companies will include them as part of coverage .

The only difference I would like to have seen is a sample more representative of the general population.

Moving forward, I think additional research is needed in several specific areas:

  • A study to determine if the same results are achieved by those who are NOT stressed, thereby indicating that mindfulness meditation can be used proactively, not just reactively.
  • A longitudinal study to determine the long-term benefits of mindfulness meditation. For example, are the structural changes in the brain permanent after participating in a mindfulness meditation course, or are they temporary? If they are temporary, how long do they last? This type of information would allow us to determine more specific criteria –  like a “prescription”  – in terms of how often people should participate in a program, and if they need to make it a life-long routine versus something they can do temporarily to alleviate a specific condition.
  • In addition, studies that indicate whether or not children can benefit from participating at an early age, as well as those designed around other demographic criteria, would be beneficial to aid in the clinical setting.
  • Finally, I would like to understand the differences associated with participating in mindfulness meditation in a group setting versus individual practice.

Credit for The Mindfulness Researchers…

Britta K. Hölzela, James Carmodyc, Mark Vangela, Christina Congletona, Sita M. Yerramsettia, Tim Garda,b, Sara W. Lazar