How Does Cocaine Effect the Brain Chemically and Behaviorally?

Question by : how does cocaine effect the brain chemically and behaviorally?
for a project on biological psychology

Best answer:

Answer by SuNriSe ^__^
If you do cocaine long enough, it causes anxiety and panic attacks.

Answer by Maddie101
When the dopamine levels return to normal, a diversity of psychological and behavioral effects of the cocaine use still exist, especially those associated with unpleasant emotions. Fifteen minutes after an IV injection of cocaine, the subject experiences a craving for more cocaine, even though a high concentration of cocaine should still be present in the brain. It has also been shown that after the self-reported rush of the cocaine high has diminished, continuous IV infusion of cocaine will often induce negative feelings such as dysphoria, anxiety, and paranoia, which are mixed with positive feelings of well being. This tells us that even with a steady flow of cocaine to the brain, a cocaine user will still be subject to the negative effects of the drug use, because his dopamine levels will drop back to normal even though the brain is saturated with cocaine. So, the constant abuse of, and addiction to cocaine are characterized by a state in which the negative dysphoric effects are experienced regularly due to the brains compensatory mechanisms for maintaining normal dopamine levels. Since subjects still experience negative effects with normal dopamine levels, this leads to the theory that cocaine must also exert its effects (especially the aversive effects) through mechanisms other than the dopamine system. The involvement of opioid neuropeptides in causing the negative effects of cocaine abuse is likely.

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