Heroin Addiction: A Biological Perspective

Addiction – Heroin Addiction

In this course, Dr Dean Burnett (Cardiff University) explores heroin addiction. In the first lecture, we think about the biological perspective on heroin addiction. In the second lecture, we think about the learning perspective on heroin addiction. In the third lecture, we think about therapies for heroin addiction and how they contrast to therapies for the more common alcohol addiction. Next, we think about the efficacy of drug therapies when used to treat drug addictions, specifically heroin addiction. In the fifth and final lecture, we think about the long term impacts of addiction, specifically heroin addiction. Photo by Tim Cooper on Unsplash

Heroin Addiction: A Biological Perspective

In this lecture, we think about the biological perspective on heroin addiction, focusing in particular on: (i) a brief overview of addiction and its societal impacts; (ii) the fact that heroin addiction is the go-to portrayal of the negative impacts of addiction; (iii) heroin in a chemical sense being a form of diamorphine, up to ten times more powerful than morphine; (iv) the origin of opiates being from the opioid poppy; (v) the comparative type of effect between heroin and natural endorphins, but with natural endorphins being more powerful; (vi) the reason why heroin is able to generate feelings of euphoria being that it is administered without the accompanying discomfort that would be present in the event of a natural endorphin release; (vii) heroin’s effect on mu-opioid receptors, which are normally only activated by the body’s natural endorphins; (viii) the role of the opioid system being to activate the reward system.