It would be easy to assume that that abusing stimulant drugs such as amphetamine,MDMA(‘Ecstasy’),and cocaine deleteriously impacts the brain and cognitive function.However,logically it could be the case that any neu...It would be easy to assume that that abusing stimulant drugs such as amphetamine,MDMA(‘Ecstasy’),and cocaine deleteriously impacts the brain and cognitive function.However,logically it could be the case that any neurobehavioural changes seen in drug abusers might have antedated drug taking,and so have been initially latent.An important issue is then to decide whether such changes might have been predisposing or causal factors for drug taking.They might even be considered as possible intermediate phenotypes or endophenotypes according to Gottesman’s original concept(Gottesman and Goulds,2003)—suggestive of possible constitutional or genetic factors leading to addiction.Such a hypothesis is commonly addressed by following the first degree relatives of the drug abuser to determine whether the neurobehavioural changes are also present in them.Of course,any such change might also be attributable to other familial factors,for example,the common environment,including possible stressful factors that may also contribute to neurobehavioural changes.展开更多
文摘It would be easy to assume that that abusing stimulant drugs such as amphetamine,MDMA(‘Ecstasy’),and cocaine deleteriously impacts the brain and cognitive function.However,logically it could be the case that any neurobehavioural changes seen in drug abusers might have antedated drug taking,and so have been initially latent.An important issue is then to decide whether such changes might have been predisposing or causal factors for drug taking.They might even be considered as possible intermediate phenotypes or endophenotypes according to Gottesman’s original concept(Gottesman and Goulds,2003)—suggestive of possible constitutional or genetic factors leading to addiction.Such a hypothesis is commonly addressed by following the first degree relatives of the drug abuser to determine whether the neurobehavioural changes are also present in them.Of course,any such change might also be attributable to other familial factors,for example,the common environment,including possible stressful factors that may also contribute to neurobehavioural changes.
