Alcohol psychotropic effects

Another problem for the makers of naltrexone was recently uncovered by researchers testing the drug on marijuana smokers. To the researchers surprise, people who were given naltrexone and then smoked marijuana reported that they felt greater psychotropic effects from the marijuana than if they had simply smoked the marijuana alone. In other words, while naltrexone blocks the psychotropic effects of alcohol, heroin and opium, it appears to increase the effects of marijuana. 

Hollister, L.E. (1982). In F. HofFmeister 8c G. StiUe (Eds.), Psychotropic Agents Part III. Alcohol and psychotomimetics, psychotropic effects of central acting drugs. (321-344). Berlin Springer Verlag. 

Psvchopharmaceutieals are medications that can affect the behavior and subjective state of man and are used therapeutically on account of these psychotropic effects. Apart from psychopharmaceuticals, there are man) other substances with psychotropic action, such as alcohol, nicotine, cocaine and heroin, which are characterized as social or addictive products and have no generally recognized therapeutic applications in Western medicine. Analgesics and members of other drug classes also have direct or indirect actions on subjective state and behavior but are not considered to be psychopharmaceuticals because they are not used primarily for their psychotropic effects. 

Psychotropic effect is the main effect, with the desired action Psvchopharmaceuticals Antipsychotics Antidepressants Mood stabilizers Anxiolytics, hypnotics Psychostimulants Nootropics, antidementia drugs Social drugs , drugs Alcohol Nicotine Cocaine, heroin, etc. 

Most, if not all, of the tissues and organs in the body are adversely affected by chronic ingestion of excessive amounts of alcohol, including the liver, pancreas, heart, reproductive organs, central nervous system, and the fetus. Some of the effects of alcohol ingestion, such as the psychotropic effects on the brain or inhibition of vitamin transport, are direct effects caused by ethanol itself. However, many of the acute and chronic pathophysiologic effects of alcohol relate to the pathways of ethanol metabolism (see Chapter 25). 

Shulgin, A.T. 1982. Chemistry of psychotomimetics. In Hoff-meister, F. 8c Stille, G. (Eds.). Handbook of Experimental Pharmacology. Vol. 55 Psychotropic Agents, Pt. Ill Alcohol and Psychotomimetics. Psychotropic Effects of Central-Acting Drugs. New York Springer-Verlag. 

Alcohol and Psychotomime-tics, Psychotropic Effects of Central Acting Drugs... 

Stapleton JM, Guthrie S, Linnoila M. (1986). Effects of alcohol and other psychotropic drugs on eye movements relevance to traffic safety. J Stud Alcohol. 47(5) 426-32. 

CNS effects Because of the rapid onset of action, eszopiclone should only be ingested immediately prior to going to bed or after the patient has gone to bed and has experienced difficulty falling asleep. Eszopiclone may produce additive CNS-depressant effects when coadministered with other psychotropic medications, anticonvulsants, antihistamines, ethanol, and other drugs that produce CNS depression. Eszopiclone should not be taken with alcohol. Dose adjustment may be necessary when eszopiclone is administered with other CNS-depressant agents because of the potentially additive effects. 

Most of the research and results have been focused on the effects of drug therapy on the disorders induced by alcohol, and by opiates abuse. For all drugs, the first objective is to wean the patients from the drug, treating or preventing the effects of withdrawal for those drugs which cause physical dependence (alcohol, nicotine, opiates, caffeine, certain psychotropic agents such as benzodiazepines, possibly antidepressants). The second phase is the prevention of recurrence or relapse, which relies on a com-... 

Morphine and other opioids exhibit intense sedative effects and increased respiratory depression when combined with other sedatives, such as alcohol or barbiturates. Increased sedation and toxicity are observed when morphine is administered in combination with the psychotropic drugs, such as chlorpromazine and monoamine oxidase inhibitors, or the anxiolytics, such as diazepam. 

A key effect of addictive psychotropic drugs is to increase the extracellular concentration of dopamine in the nucleus accumbens. Ethanol does this in part by direct excitation of the mesolimbic dopamine neurons projecting to the accumbens (Koyama et al. 2007). However, studies in alcohol-preferring rats, animals which tend to develop alcohol dependence, have indicated an additional component a reduction of presynaptic D2 autoreceptor function (Engleman et al. 2003 Thielen et al. 2004). 

An additional psychotropic medication that may be worth considering specifically for GAD is buspirone. One major benefit of buspirone can be found in the virtual absence of dependence and abuse liability. Although it is not effective for the acute relief of anxiety or panic disorders (anxiolytic effects may take up to a week to be established), buspirone may be indicated for patients with a history of alcohol abuse or among those who fear physiologic and psychological dependence with benzodiazepines. 

A condition known as absinthism was observed in chronic consumers of the alcoholic beverage absinthe, which contains wormwood extract. The condition was described as a form of alcoholism that included delirium, hallucinations, tremors, and seizures (Lee and Balick 2005). While the compound thujone was once thought to be the primary cause of the psychotropic activity and toxicity of absinthe, recent analyses of absinthe indicate that the thujone content of historical and contemporary samples is insignificant and that other ingredients, such as the coloring agents copper sulfate or antimony chloride, may have been responsible for the adverse effects of absinthe (Blaschek et al. 2002 Lachenmeier et al. 2008). 

Use with other central nervous system depressants the depressant effects of morphine are potentiated by the presence of other CNS depressants such as alcohol, sedatives, antihistaminics or psychotropic drugs. Use of neuroleptics in conjimction with neuraxial morphine may increase the risk of respiratory depression. 

---