Addiction Treatment Blog

In 1954, Olds and Milner discovered that there appeared to be pleasure spots in the brain. Implanting electrodes in certain areas of the brain, through which a rat can give itself an electric current by pressing on a lever, produced in most brain areas nothing of note. In some areas, however, the rats seemed keen on the effects of self-stimulation and, in some cases, if left to their own devices would self-stimulate to the exclusion of all else – even food and drink.

As mentioned, noradrenaline was discovered in the brain in 1954. In 1959, a second catecolamine, dopamine, was identified, which was shown to be deficient in Parkinson’s disease.

The later mapping of dopamine-containing neurones has shown that they too, like noradrenergic neurones, tend to originate in a discrete area, the ventral tegmentum. Some of these neurones run to strictly motor areas of the brain and constitute the nigrostriatal system, and it is loss of nerve calls in this pathway that leads to Parkinson’s disease. Read more…

Effects of Drugs on Sex

Table of Contents

• Potency
• Orgasm
• Libido
• Aphrodisiacs
• Yohimbine
• Trazodone
• Nefazodone and Cyproheptadine
• Glyceril Trinitrate
• Transcutaneous Absorption
• Intracaversonal Injections
• Bethanecol
• Dyspareunia and Orgasm
• Libido
• Anaphrodisiacs
• Sex Addiction Treatment Clinic
• Do You Need Help?

Read more…

The range of sexual difficulties can be devastating.

Table of Contents

• Potency
• Ejaculation and Orgasm
• Libido
  • Sexual Orientation, Objects and Practices
  • The Female Sexual Response
• Sex Addiction Treatment Available
• Do you need help?

Potency

The sexual problem in men that is most likely to lead a request for medical assistance is a disorder of erectile function, leading to impotence. This refers to an inability to achieve or to sustain an erection, and may derive from either an organic or psychogenic source.

The organic causes of impotence stem from either problems with the nervous supply to blood vessels of the penis (neurogenic causes), or problems with the blood vessels themselves (vasculogenic causes). There are a number of other illnesses or disorders which may play a part, from local diseases of the penis, Peyronie’s disease, which involves excessive curvature of the penis (few penises are entirely straight when erect) to diseases which affect the whole body, such as liver or kidney disease. Read more…

Disinhibition is literally the opposite of inhibition. and a state where normal social restraints of behaviour are lost. People grow merry with alcohol as the alcohol first anaesthetizes their inhibitions, then their ability to hold a conversation, before finally it removes their ability to stand upright or make their way unassisted.

One of the early signs of hypomania and mania is loss of inhibition. The personality of the person with manic depressive disorder changes, as they at first become the life and soul of the party. As hypomania progresses there is further disinhibition; the individual may engage in extremely frank conversations with colleagues and complete strangers and become over-familiar with people he or she would normally be highly respectful of. The individual will then most likely spend extravagantly, run around starting numerous tasks, act on every impulse, become sexually promiscuous, irritable, and unable to concentrate for more than a couple of minutes as thought process become increasingly disorganized. Read more…

Mental health problems may affect your sexual life.

Mental health difficulties and relationship problems affect your sex life. How you feel about yourself reflects in how much you and your partner can enjoy sex. If you are feeling low and anxious, maybe tired, your self-image is likely to be low and this may contribute towards a loss of interest.

Some people experience anxiety over sexual identity and this can exacerbate or trigger mental health problems. People who have had abusive childhood experiences, and who are vulnerable to psychological distress, may experience difficulties around sex. Anxiety makes it difficult for people to ‘let go’ and ‘enjoy’ themselves – for example, some people find it difficult to reach orgasm (anorgesmia). Whilst it would be rewarding to have fulfilling sex life, often sex is the last thing on your mind whilst you are experiencing mental health problems.

Some illnesses can actually increase the sex drive (libido). People who are experiencing a ‘manic’ episode, for example, may go through overwhelming feelings of sexual desire and may become quite promiscuous.

Medication and Sex ‘Drive’

Psychotropic mecications, for example anti-depressants, may affect sex drive and performance. You may feel reduced libido. Men may also experience impotence (inability to get sustain an erection), or delayed ejaculation.

How to Get Help If You’re Worried About Your Sex Life?

Discuss this with your GP/health care team. It might be worth considering drugs such as Viagra for men finding difficulty getting and sustaining an erection. You might discuss whether an alternative medication would be more appropriate for you. You can, of course, address any sexual issues with your therapist if you are receiving professional psychological input.

If you think you are experiencing sexual difficulties linked to past issues, discuss this with your therapist/GP. Read more…

Our society likes to think that drugs cause addiction. It’s actually the other way around for most people with addiction. The addiction causes the drug use. To explain this better, I’ll have to tell you some of the anatomy of the brain that involves addiction. The picture below is a crude diagram of a part of the brain called the reward center.

Brain Reward Centre

The circle labeled VTA represents a group of brain cells (neurons) called the Ventral Tegmental Area. They produce a neurotransmitter called dopamine (DA), which they release to provide a signal to other neurons. They send this dopamine signal to another group of cells called the Nucleus Accumbens (NA). This is where the magic happens. Whatever you’re doing when a big slug of dopamine hits the shell of the Nucleus Accumbens gets coded as a good thing that’s necessary for survival and that you should do more of. Dopamine at the Nucleus Accumbens is why we do anything twice. For normal people normal levels of dopamine release provide normal levels of pleasure and reward. But some people don’t have the normal levels of dopamine and so normal activities don’t lead to normal reward. They need bigger stimulation to feel what other people feel normally. Read more…