The work of Abraham Wikler (1973) over the past three decades has called attention to the importance of conditioned responses in the addictive process. Drugs act as powerful forces in shaping behavior, both by their direct pleasant effects (positive reinforcement) and by their effects in relieving withdrawal symptoms (negative reinforcement). Wikler theorized that the environmental cues which h...

Sudden withdrawal of oral therapy with hydralazine for reduction of afterload in a patient precipitated severe congestive heart failure. Signs of metabolic encephalopathy evolved due to low cardiac output. Reinstitution of therapy with hydralazine resulted in prompt improvement in cardiac and neurologic status. This case underscores the need for careful follow-up of such patients and argues aga...

Some studies have shown that Matricaria recutita (M. recutita) have sedative effect on pain, anxiety and morphine withdrawal syndrome (MWS). Since some investigations have indicated the sedative effects of benzodiazepines in MWS, so the inhibitory factor of M. recutita may be related to some of its benzodiazepine-like components. In this study sedative properties of M. recutita in the presence ...

Background: Clonidine is α2 adrenergic receptor agonist with detrimental effect on locus coeruleus. It is considered as one of the detoxification drugs in order to reduce opiate withdrawal syndrome. We conducted this study in order to assess clonidine effect on withdrawal symptoms and signs. Materials and methods This double blind, clinical trial, single centered study was conducted among 104 m...

Alcoholism is a prevalent medical and psychiatric disease, and, consequently, alcohol withdrawal is encountered frequently in the emergency department. This issue reviews the pathophysiology of the alcohol withdrawal syndrome, describes the 4 manifestations of alcohol withdrawal, and looks at the available evidence for optimal treatment of alcohol withdrawal in its diverse presentations. Patien...

background: the study was performed to investigate the effects of morphine dependency and morphine withdrawal on the reproductive system of adult male rat(wistar).  methods: 32 adult male rat divided into 5 groups. animals in the control group (n=8) received normal saline (1ml/kg) twice daily subcutaneously for 30 consecutive days. animals in dependent group (n=8) received morphine (10mg/ml/kg)...

relieving withdrawal and post-abstinence syndrome of alcoholism is one of the major strategies in the treatment of alcohol addicted patients. diazepam, chlordiazepoxide, and topiramate are the approved medications that were used for this object. to assess the role of non-pharmacologic therapy in the management of alcohol withdrawal syndrome, we analyzed effects of forced exercise by treadmill o...

Various physiological parameters including level of sex steroids undergo alterations following chronic administration of morphine. In this study, the effect of chronic administration of morphine on phasic and tonic pain was studied in morphine-dependent male and female rats in the presence and absence of gonads using formalin test. In addition, for evaluation of differences in dependency, withd...

introduction: opiates cause dependency via affect on central nervous system. locus coeruleus nucleus is a main group of noradrenergic neurons in the brain that plays an important role in the expression of opioid withdrawal signs. during opioid withdrawal, brain waves change in addition to physical and behavioral signs. in this study, we examined the effects of locus coeruleus electrical stimula...

The effects of dextromethorphan (DM), a noncompetitive antagonist of the N-methyl-D-aspartate (NMDA) receptors, have been investigated on ethanol withdrawal signs in rats. Ethanol (7.2% v/v) was given to rats in a liquid diet for 16 days. DM (10, 20, and 40 mg/kg) and saline were injected intraperitoneally at the third hour of ethanol withdrawal. DM (40 mg/kg) and ethanol dependent saline were ...