Psychology Chronicles Series #23.1 : Altering Consciousness Through Drugs | An Overview On Depressants & Opioids
"An over indulgence of anything, even something as pure as water, can intoxicate."
- Criss Jami
We've heard numerous stories of teenagers experimenting with drugs and how it ruined their lives drastically.
Staying clean might be a difficult thing to do for kids like Savannah because her family is also involved with drug dependency. Peer pressure,curiosity and an attempt to escape from reality or to seek for pleasure are all the usual reasons people & teenagers resorted to drug abuse. Young people often become involved with drugs because of all the reasons I have stated above or just a justification to shape up one's identity. Where then does drug abuse end & begin?
Distorting Consciousness & Perceptions | An Introduction To Drug Addiction
Here in our country,the government is doing it's utmost best to eliminate illegal drugs in the country's system. This menace could destroy lives and creates a lot of broken families. Doing this is a very long process since the use of illegal drugs is still rampant in the community. Drugs are being sold everywhere and the world could be a supermarket of drugs that have psychological effects like stimulation or distortion of common perceptions which is called psychoactive substances.
Psychoactive substances are kind of drugs that can change moods thus impairing consciousness and is highly associated with doing careless and daredevilish acts.
Some of the drugs that are being used can be both legal and illegal. People used it for medicinal or for pleasure purposes. Whatever reasons they have,we should always be mindful to take precautions in involving ourselves with these kind of substances. Teenagers are usually associated with using drugs because of their curiosity and their search for happiness & establishing a place in a group or crowd.
Psychoactive drugs alter consciousness by disrupting the neurotransmitters and the synapses in the Central Nervous System or the CNS. These drugs operate in different states. Like for example some psychoactive drugs imitates the functions of neurotransmitters,some disrupts the normal action of a neurotransmitter and others just obstruct the using up of neurotransmitters at the synapses.
There are 4 kinds of psychoactive drugs: Depressants,Opioids,Stimulants & Hallucinogenics.
For todays article we will be talking about Depressants & Opioids and how it could destroy your body and your psychological well-being.
Depressants | Examples & Effects To Your Health
ALCOHOL
Whenever we feel down or whenever we feel like escaping the pain caused by our personal problems. We often resort in drinking alcohol and often engross ourselves with drinking alcoholic beverages like vodka,whisky or beer. Alcohol the most common type of depressant is definitely a household name. As long as it could make us temporarily forget about everything then alcohol can be a temporary solution too. We consider alcohol as an all purpose medicine, a medicine that we could buy immediately without asking for a doctor's advice. It does not only count for being the star of celebrations,birthdays or parties but alcohol yields a lot of benefits and that includes solace to our never-ending issues with life,our search to break free from our anxieties,depression or emptiness.
Alcohol's effects varies on how it is consumed and how often one consumes these kinds of depressants.
Low alcohol intake is still arousing since alcohol stretches blood vessels. While higher doses have a relaxing effect thats why alcohol is categorized as depressants. But we shouldn't neglect the fact that alcohol can impair our mental and cognitive functioning. It alters consciousness in a way that it could result in difficulty in speaking correctly and hinder coordination,which is why when we are drunk we often cannot walk straight. When we are drunk we forget how the consequences of our actions could greatly influence our life and our relationship with others. We even do things that we think are very impossible to do when we are sober. According to WHO (World Health Organization) on its website Alcohol Use- Statistics & Facts states that deaths due to alcohol consumption estimates to have reached 3.3 million worldwide as of 2015.
Barbiturates
Another type of depressants are Barbiturates or commonly known as sedative-hypnotics. These kind of drugs could decrease the negative effects of anxiety, manages seizures and could increase an individuals chances to doze off. Barbiturates are abused mainly because people experiences a state of calmness,drowsiness, liberation and euphoric effects. Which is why more people are drawn into overdosing theirselves with it neglecting it's terrible effects to the mind and body.
Just like usual depressants, Barbiturates restricts brain functions and processes thus weakens the ability to be rational. People who abuse this kind of drug also experiences mood swings,irritability and might even fall into depressive & suicidal tendencies.
Despite these harmful effects people still overdose themselves with barbiturates and even combine it with CNS depressants like alcohol. By doing so, it could increase the chances of being in an absolute euphoric state & eliminates anxiety. Barbiturate addiction on the other hand comprises overdosing with or without prescription of the substance. According to the website on Drug Abuse particularly on Barbiturate overdose, 1% of the population in U.S. or an estimate of 2,700,000 people in 2014 used Barbiturates without prescription from doctors. 10% of overdose in this antidepressant could be really fatal that it could result in death.
The Detrimental Effects of Opioids & it's Difference From Opiates
Opiates & Opioids
To give a clear distinction between Opiates from Opioids, we will first focus on the latter. Opioids might be similiar to Opiates because both share the same chemical structures but Opioids are manufactured and made from laboratories. There are several types of opioids: These are Demerol,Methadone, Duragic and others. Opioids are considered as synthethic drugs and same with opiates it could also relief pain. Opiates on the other hand is also a powerful drug inducing anesthesia or a numbing drug. Some examples of Opiates include : Morphine,Demerol,Heroin and others. Opiates are drugs prescribed by medical professionals mainly to numb from pain.
Heroin the most common and widely used illegal opiate drug which is a reformed version of morphine is still available in the market despte of it's harmful and addictive effects.
Overdosing and abusing heroin could be deadly not only to our body but it could also impair our mental processes and it could destroy our personal relationships with others. Heroin can be used in variety of ways. It can be injected,smoked or snorted and it's effects to the body can be felt right away. These effects though short term in nature could result in an immense feeling of pleasure that is very satisfying to it's user. The immediate effect of heroin could result in the release of dopamine, a neurotransmitter responsible for feelings of happiness or euphoria.
If the user continuously seeks for the feelings of pleasure to repeat then addiction to the drug could kick in. The longer an individual uses heroin, the lesser chances of than person to be high. Tolerance to the drug could manifest and increasing amounts of heroin that is used would eventually result to a drug overdose. According to the National Institue on Drug Abuse, cases of drug overdose increased from 2010-2013 & many people have died from this kind of drug.
It is not surprising that these kind of drugs are very harmful towards our body and to our mental state. To users who are addicted to these types of drugs, it is not too late to turn your life around.
On my next blog, I will be talking about the destructive effects of Stimulants & Hallucinogenics as drugs that could also alter our consciousness. Till my next post guys! I'll see you around 😊
References:
1. Savannah,A True Story of Addiction, Treatment & Recovery
2. Altering Consciousness with Psychoactive Drugs
3. Depressant Drug Abuse & Side Effects
4. Alcohol Use- Statistics & Facts
5. Barbiturate Overdose
6. Difference Between Opiates & Opioids
7. The Effects of Heroin Use
Love,
@sakura1012
》》》》》》》》》》》》》》》》》》》》》》》》》》》》》》》
I am a proud member of @steemstem, a community which encourages engagement & active interactions through STEM( Science,Technology,Engineering & Mathematics) posts. For more information you can visit the community page through @steemstem blog or you can join us in discord through this @steemsteminvite
I find this article quite informative.Drug abuse is killing the world and engaging our youths negatively. Some time I felt like crying. Just last week in my country,about 50 people lost their lives when some dere devil armed robbers ,whom I believed are heavily drugged stormed some banks In a town and carted away lump some of money.They killed policemen like mad, that's effect of drugs.
May God help our government to put necessary policy to check mate drug abuse.
I even heard that some people in government are also into drugs too!!!😨
I will be looking forward to @abigael-dantes post on Friday too
❤
Thank you for dropping by @steepup and for leaving an awesome comment. Use of illegal drugs are really a pain to the society. It causes so much destruction that it should be stopped but since it is already rooted down into the system doing so is very difficult to do. I think that what people need is proper education about the harmful effects of these drugs to everyone.
Nice post to enrich the psychology tag. Congratulations
The increased dangers of drug use today is correlated and proportional to the decremental state of people's personalities generated in the growing unbalance of the families ' stability and secure haven.
The growing problems with drugs come from the weak ontological security of people that multiply the adverse effects of depressants and stimulants.
For equilibrated people with a strong self-security, maybe the use of drugs of the group of psychedelics( LSD, psilocybin, and weed) can be aggrandizer of the frontiers of the ego, then in the future can reflect in better physical health.
But all other drugs are damaging with prolonged usage.
The other danger is that today all drugs are synthetic, not distilled like the old times.
Nowadays people believe that they take LSD, but it is not distilled, is a synthetic mambo-jumbo where you put X chemicals in a lab but in the end, it has nothing to do with the LSD from the 60's and 70's that were made with 25 distillations from organic matter to get it pure.
But mushrooms, cactus, and organic weed are still safe products. :)
I have seen many people taking these psychedelic drugs from 45-35 years ago till today, that are OK with life but I have never seen any champion with long stories of any chemical consumption that got better with life and themselves. I mean heroine, morfine, coke, metanphetamin, and pharmacy sh't , etc.
Well you are definitely correct. It is really frustrating to know that there are a lot of people who are addicted to illegal drugs and their addiction dragged them into misery & despair. Resulting to broken homes, failed relationships and lost of employment opportunities.Because of this menace, we can never secure a much more safer place to live since wherever we go there are people who are addicted to these kind of drugs and will eventually lose their sanity. We've heard numerous cases of families being torn apart, people killed or even physically or sexually harrassed because of drugs.
Anything that's too much is harmful to us. That's why using and taking drugs for a prolonged use is dangerous. Since we might be having a tolerance to these drugs and eventually will get addicted to it. Any drugs to be taken should be based on prescriptions given by medical professionals.
Thanks for taking the time to read my article buddy and for leaving a very insightful comment. See you around 😉 🌸
I don't know how was I able to miss all of your articles until now.
I know a little about how cell receptors are numbed over exposure to the same stimulus or substance in this case, and I know about the general Opioid abuse worldwide. I am following Healthcare Triage on Youtube and they had a series on Opioids a few years back:
You did a good job writing your article, I got to understand more of the effects, but I don't know if the abuse is only going on in USA or does it also happen in the EU? I am strictly talking about the medical used ones.
And if there are other antidepressants that are easier for the patient.
I watched the whole video @alexdory and it's crazy how 47,000 people died from drug overdose. Drugs like opioids are generally painkillers but people are using them incorrectly and it is truly alarming. Imagine how these kind of drugs destroy lives rather than using them with medical prescriptions. Same with morphine and heroin people look for it's euphoric effects. So sad right? I think opioid addiction does not only happen in U.S but in other parts of the world. As long as it's readily available the number of people purchasing and using these drugs would also increase. I am currently working on my 2nd post that tackles about stimulants and hallucinogenics. Thanks for dropping by buddy
Just in the US.
This is why I was wondering if this is a worldwide problem or not.
I dont have the stats with other countries but here in our country it is definitely a problem. The government is on a constant battle against it. One thing is clear though,substance abuse is a serious global issue.
@abigail-dantes dear how are you doing? I missed you so much. I kept checking on your profile if you have a new write up but till now I guess you're still super busy. I hope I can hear from you soon. Wishing you all the best dear. 😚
Dear @sakura1012,
I was reading your incredibly informative post, and scrolled down to leave a comment only to find a lovely little note for me! You are so Sweet ❤
But, first things first: Your post!
Well, you know by now addiction is one of my (many) top favorite topics in psychology. Here, I really liked how you addressed alcohol as "an all purpose medicine" and how you discussed it further clarifying the consequences it has in our cognition and mental functioning. It is always painful to see people resorting to this sort of substance as a means to, using your own words, "temporarily forget about everything".
Of course, the same sort of concept seem to apply to those who end up using and abusing opioids. You have briefly discussed what drives someone to use heroin as well as the factors that may drive people to become addicted to it very efficiently @sakura1012 :)
Most of all, however, I found really important the way you pointed out the potentially lethal consequences of barbiturates.
This is a very relevant and important topic to discuss my dear and you did it incredibly well.
Your posts are beautiful!
As for me, I am getting ready to post on Friday 😊
Ps:
you forgot to include opioids here :)I'm overwhelmed by your truly kind words dear. Thanks for pointing out the things that I missed in this article, I already updated it. Yes, I have read your article about Addiction and it was really an exceptional post. Well all of your posts are. 😚 I'm looking forward to your post on friday. 😙😊 I miss you dear and thanks for responding on my message.
Congratulations @sakura1012! You have completed some achievement on Steemit and have been rewarded with new badge(s) :
Click on any badge to view your own Board of Honor on SteemitBoard.
For more information about SteemitBoard, click here
If you no longer want to receive notifications, reply to this comment with the word
STOP
Nice
Thank you. See you around @cilegna 😉