About the lecture

In this lecture, we think about some key learning and biological approach explanations for drug misuse, focusing in particular on: (i) the focus of the biological approach on neurons and other purely biological factors in the body; (ii) heroine being a chemical variant of morphine; (iii) the brain’s natural tendency to only use endorphins very sparingly, due to their extreme effect on mood and behaviour; (iv) the hijacking hypothesis which explains why drugs ‘work’, by ‘hijacking’ the existing reward system receptors and activating them; (v) the pleasure inducing effect of heroin appearing to be more intense than natural endorphins only because it is usually introduced without the counteractive discomfort which would normally accompany the release of natural endorphins; (vi) the similarities between drug preference and dependency, and classical conditioning; (vii) the fact that the routine of drug taking, for example preparing a needle for injection, can provide a pleasure response without the biological mechanism; (viii) the effect that drug consumption can have on prioritising otherwise valued aspects of life; (ix) the presence of addiction in the absence of an external biological mechanism, such as in a gambling addiction; (x) the medical model of mental health treatment, which promotes the treatment of a mental health condition like you would a physical condition; (xi) an issue with the medical model of mental health being the lack of agency for the person suffering with that mental health condition, prevalent for addiction treatment because overcoming addiction requires motivation.

About the lecturer

Dr Dean Burnett is a neuroscientist, author and honorary research associate in the Centre for Medical Education at Cardiff University. Dr Burnett’s research interests are in neuroscience, science communication and psychology. Some of Dr Burnett’s recent books include Psycho-Logical (2019) and Why Your Parents Are Driving You Up The Wall And What To Do About It (2019).