1. Etiology
   1. Drugs activate brain dopaminergic reward pathway
   2. Drugs alter prefrontal lobe functioning affecting judgement
   3. Drugs reduce brain's natural dopamine availability over time
      1. Associtated with dysphoria
   4. Drug use causes brain changes that lead to uncomfortable withdrawl symptoms
      1. May cause relapse
   5. Drug use paired with environmental cues and can trigger drug-seeling behavior
2. Treatment
   1. In-patient hospitalization
      1. Detoxification
      2. Prevention of relapse
   2. Psychotherapy
      1. Cognitive Therapy
         1. Emphasize abstinence
         2. Identify and correct self-defeating thoughts
      2. Behavioral Therapy
         1. Stimulus control
         2. Aversion Therapy
         3. Exposure and response prevention
      3. Family Therapy
   3. Support Groups
      1. Groups for patients
      2. Groups for Relative/Friends
   4. Pharmacotherapy
      1. For withdrawl sypmtoms
      2. Agonist therapy (act as substitute for more harmful drug)
      3. Antagonist therapy (block action of drugs)
      4. Aversion therapy (alcohol treatment)
   5. Vaccinations?
3. Epidemiology
   1. Addiction is most common mental disorder
   2. Men more affected than women, especially age 16-25
4. Features
   1. Drug users tend to be multiple substance users
   2. Associated with anti-social personality disorder, depression, anxiety
   3. Those with mental illness tend to "self-medicate"
   4. Catostrophic direct and indirect health hazards often occur from use
5. Addication Risk
   1. Genetics
      1. Inheriting defeciency in dopamine availability?
   2. Cultural biases
   3. Occupational biases
   4. Mental Illness