Cocaine And Methamphetamine Essay

Words: 626
Pages: 3

Cocaine and amphetamines have been known to cause adverse reactions after used for long periods of time. They cause many different health problems, but they are especially known to mimic or induce psychiatric disorders like depression, schizophrenia, and bi-polar disorder. This paper will examine the psychotic effects they have on the user that mimic schizophrenia. This paper will delve into the causes of stimulant induced psychosis as well as treatment options that have become most successful over the years. Studies have been conducted throughout the years on the subject of drug-induced psychosis, which gives a lot of information to process and learn from.
Both amphetamine induced psychosis and schizophrenia have been noted to have effects on the neurotransmitters dopamine and norepinephrine (Kokkinidis & Anisman, 1980). A study conducted
…show more content…
Methamphetamine is one of the most potent stimulants known, which can exacerbate psychotic symptoms more easily, and more intense symptoms than most other stimulants. Methamphetamine psychosis has been known to occur at one dose, but more commonly occurs with chronic use of the drug (Dore & Sweeting, 2006). These symptoms are similar to those induced by amphetamines. The difference with methamphetamine is that in many cases it only takes one dose to induce psychotic symptoms. The researchers also found that chronic use of methamphetamine could prompt schizophrenia to develop without a return to normal (Dore & Sweeting, 2006). The researchers also found the best treatment for methamphetamine-induced psychosis is neuroleptics(Dore & Sweeting, 2006). While symptoms usually arise from individuals who have used methamphetamine chronically, or individuals with a preexisting psychotic disorder, these symptoms can arise from completely healthy individuals who have no pre-exposure to the drug (Dore & Sweeting,