Tag Archives: psychopharmacology

Cocaine and pepper spray – a lethal mix?

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Capsaicin
Capsaicin

“Deaths in US police custody during the early 1990s may have been the result of an interaction between capsaicin, the key ingredient in pepper sprays, and psychostimulant drugs, an experiment in mice suggests. If the two have a fatal interaction in people then police forces might have to rethink their use of pepper spray as a non-lethal weapon, says John Mendelson of the Addiction and Pharmacology Research Laboratory at St Luke’s Hospital in San Francisco, who led the mouse research.

In the early nineties, anecdotal reports emerged in the US of people dying after being sprayed by police. “They seemed to die very quickly,” says Mendelson. At post-mortem, many of these people showed signs of having taken cocaine, so Mendelson wondered if capsaicin and cocaine could interact fatally in the body. (New Scientist)

The Neuroenhancement Underground

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The human brain

Every era has its defining drug. Neuroenhancers are perfectly suited for our efficiency-obsessed, BlackBerry-equipped office culture. (The New Yorker)

Campus use appears to be greatest at the most competitive institutions, but not among the highest achievers. It seems that stimulant use can compensate for partying and not being that motivated for your schoolwork. Is the use of neuroenhancers like cheating? Or, to turn the ethical question on its head, could it one day be considered unethical not to dose oneself in certain professions — neurosurgery, for instance.

High Caffeine Intake Linked To Hallucination Proneness

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Chemical structure of Caffeine.

“High caffeine consumption could be linked to a greater tendency to hallucinate, a new research study suggests.

People with a higher caffeine intake, from sources such as coffee, tea and caffeinated energy drinks, are more likely to report hallucinatory experiences such as hearing voices and seeing things that are not there, according to the Durham University study.

‘High caffeine users’ – those who consumed more than the equivalent of seven cups of instant coffee a day – were three times more likely to have heard a person’s voice when there was no one there compared with ‘low caffeine users’ who consumed less than the equivalent of one cup of instant coffee a day.”

via Science Daily.

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Sex, Love, and SSRIs

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“Doctors have been grappling with sexual dysfunction since SSRIs (selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors) were introduced in the 1980s. Approximately 70 percent of people taking SSRIs suffer from sexual side effects. But these drugs may also compromise the ability to feel love.

Rutgers University anthropologist Helen Fisher, for one, believes SSRIs are wreaking havoc on human courtship. SSRIs alleviate depression by upping the levels of serotonin in the brain and curbing the production of the neurotransmitter dopamine. Unfortunately, dopamine is also responsible for the feelings of elation and ecstasy that accompany falling in love. By suppressing dopamine, Fisher argues, drugs like Prozac block your ability to have these feelings, thus making it harder to fall in love and stay in love.

…Even if you’re one of the lucky ones who manage to find love while taking SSRIs, you still have some obstacles to overcome, says Fisher. …[You] may lose the ability to orgasm, and this could cause long-term relationship issues. Orgasms trigger the release of the hormone oxytocin—one that has been linked with pair bonding. Indeed, those who fail to orgasm, thanks to SSRIs, may be at a distinct disadvantage when it comes to mating and bonding.” (Psychology Today)

Of course, this becomes much more of a problem in an era of “cosmetic psychopharmacology” in which the distinction between tweaking a blue mood and treating a clinical depression has been lost. Those who are clinically depressed and truly require antidepressant treatment are usually in no position for love and bonding at this time in their lives in the first place. This issue highlights just one of my misgivings about the potential indiscriminate overuse of these medications.