Experience of emotion

In addition to biological and environmental factors that influence the onset and course of drug-related problems, there also are many individual risk factors. These variables can include those related to a person s actions or behavior, those related to the way a person thinks, or those related to the experience of emotions. The next few sections will discuss in detail these personal variables that can be related to drug problems in some people. 

Some people may be emotionally vulnerable and may use drugs to control the experience of emotions, but using often causes consequences that can lead to increased emotional vulnerability. 

Some people with drug problems have difficulties with emotional dysregulation, which means they may under- or overreact to the experience of emotions. 

Chrea C., Grandjean D., Delplanque S., Cayeux I., Calve B.L., Aymard L., Velazco M.I., Sander D. and Scherer K.R. (2008) Mapping the semantic space for the subjective experience of emotional responses to odors. Chemical Senses 34 49-62. 

I acknowledge that no guarantee has been given me as to the painlessness of the procedure. Some individuals, because of emotional makeup or low pain threshold, may experience pain. This procedure... 

Some Paracelsian alchemists, especially Heinrich Khun rath (ca. 1560-1605) and Stefan Michelspacher (active ca. 1615-23), were objects of persecution on the part of hoth Lutheran and Catholic authorities. Khunrath was an alchemist from Saxony, the heartland of the Reformation, but his theological stance was characteristic of the second generation of Protestants who felt that Luther s work had been left incomplete and that another religious reform was essential. In Khunrath s ideas this would take the form of a Lutheranism that could accommodate an autonomous personal piety. To express their Lutheran piety intellectually the alchemists employed the terms of Paracelsian theosophy, while they found an emotive outlet in the mystical experience of the power and grace of the Holy Spirit. They felt themselves to be inspired (literally breathed ) by the Spirit, a force that they identified with alchemical pneuma. Khunrath called himself an enthusiast, hlled with the presence of the divine. 

This behavioural syndrome, rather emotively called learned helplessness", is widely believed to share many features of depression, not least because both culminate in psychomotor retardation and both are linked with experience of uncontrollable, unpredictable stress. Whether or not learned helplessness really is an analogue of depression remains controversial (Maier 1993). Nevertheless, escape deficits in rats are prevented by pretreatment with antidepressants from different generic groups. Other psychotropic agents, such as CNS stimulants and neuroleptics, are generally ineffective. 

In the first of these studies, the researchers identified the areas of the brain that are associated with normal sadness. They asked volunteer subjects to think about some very sad personal experiences - and about some emotionally neutral experiences - while their brains were being imaged in a PET scanner. When thinking about the sad experiences, the volunteers reported feeling intense sadness, and many of them became tearful. The PET scans showed the changes in brain activity that accompanied these sad feelings. They demonstrated increased blood flow in the limbic system - a part of the brain that is involved in the control of emotion - and decreased blood flow in parts of the brain that are involved in the control of attention. 

If placebo effects depended completely on the therapeutic relationship and patients emotional states, it would not be possible for the same person to show placebo effects and nocebo effects at the same time. But they do. Sometimes the same person reports both therapeutic benefits and side effects from the same placebo.15 Sometimes the more negative side effects they have experienced, the better they feel. That can happen because the side effects might convince them that they have been given a potent medication. Maybe their improvement was generated by their happiness over receiving what they believe to be an effective treatment for their condition, but this certainly would not explain their experience of side effects. 

This book is intended to give voice to the experiences of people from all walks of life who live with chemical sensitivities. Their narratives describe many of the social and emotional challenges faced... 

The criterion that many theorists seem loath to accept is that of a distinct affect (e.g., Lewis Michalson, 1983, pp. 30f). Yet this may be the most characteristic facet of emotion. When we experience an affect but do not exhibit any emotional expression, visceral changes or overt action, are we not still experiencing an emotion Furthermore, affects can be rated reliably in other primates, thus permitting cross-species comparison (Goodall, 1987). Admit-... 

There also are lawlike interactions between particular emotions, such as the inhibition of interest by fear, or the enhancement of sexual arousal by love. And of course we may experience blends of affects as we contemplate or execute a course of action (see McDougall, 1923 on blends). It is well known to ethologists that blends of emotional expressions can occur in humans and animals (e.g., Lorenz, 1953, cited in Eibl-Eibesfeldt, 1989). 

Panksepp, J. (1994). Evolution constructed the potential for subjective experience within the neurodynamics of the neomammalian brain. In P. Ekman R. J. Davidson (Eds.), The Nature of Emotion Fundmental questions (pp. 396-399). Oxford Oxford University Press. 

The patient with histrionic personality disorder (HPD) craves attention from others and resorts to excessive displays of emotion to obtain it. Like the narcissistic patient, the histrionic demands to be the center of attention but typically without the haughty arrogance of the narcissist. They are also manipulative and easily frustrated like the antisocial patient but able to experience remorse and are generally more law abiding. Finally, the histrionic patient experiences mood instability much like the borderline patient but is typically not as severely impaired. Whereas the borderline patient is frequently self-destructive and feels chronically empty, the histrionic patient is usually not prone to these more severe disturbances. 

Drugs so fettered her relationship with her daughter that it was the exception not the norm to hold and play with her or to take much pleasure in the process. This sense of emotional disconnectedness was characterized similarly by many other parents and was part and parcel of the overwhelming experience of parenting whilst also in the midst of a drug dependency problem. 

Numerous studies found that childhood sexual, physical, and emotional abuse also predisposes victims of such abuse to the development of depression in adulthood (e.g., McCauley et ah, 1997). The risk for depression increases with early onset and severity of the abuse as well as with the experience of multiple types of abuse. In addition, child abuse is related to an array of anxiety disorders, including generalized anxiety disorder and PTSD (e.g., Kendler et ah, 2000). Other disorders related to childhood abuse include substance abuse, eating disorders, dissociation, and so-... 

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