The concept of addiction Essay 3

After reading Chapter 11 and 12 in your course text and the article “Considering the Definition of Addiction” which covers the biological basis of emotion, addiction (substance abuse disorder), and disordered behavior, analyze the high rate of smoking in those diagnosed with schizophrenia compared to the general population. Why are smoking cessation interventions less successful in these individuals? Review the accepted mechanisms of tobacco abuse and dependence and the etiologic theories of schizophrenia. What are the biological and/or psychological mechanisms between schizophrenia and smoking? Include information on brain structures, pathways, neurotransmitters/receptors, and psychological factors when discussing the topic areas above. Additional emphasis should be placed on relating the underlying pathology of schizophrenia to tobacco dependence/abuse and the biological or psychological mechanism of the observed association of smoking behavior to the diagnosis of schizophrenia.
In keeping with the focus of this class, the emphasis should be placed on the role of neurotransmitter and receptor systems, neuroanatomical structures, and neurological functional pathways. You must use a minimum of one peer-reviewed source that was published within the last five years, documented in APA style, as outlined in the Ashford Writing Center. How does the data support the proposed mechanism in the article you chose? What other possible mechanisms might explain this relationship? Is it possible that biology has nothing to do with the relationship between smoking and schizophrenia? Your post should be a minimum of 250 words. You may cite and reference your textbook, required reading and/or multimedia, but these will not fulfill the source requirement.

You must proofread your paper. But do not strictly rely on your computer’s spell-checker and grammar-checker; failure to do so indicates a lack of effort on your part and you can expect your grade to suffer accordingly. Papers with numerous misspelled words and grammatical mistakes will be penalized. Read over your paper – in silence and then aloud – before handing it in and make corrections as necessary. Often it is advantageous to have a friend proofread your paper for obvious errors. Handwritten corrections are preferable to uncorrected mistakes.

Use a standard 10 to 12 point (10 to 12 characters per inch) typeface. Smaller or compressed type and papers with small margins or single-spacing are hard to read. It is better to let your essay run over the recommended number of pages than to try to compress it into fewer pages.

Likewise, large type, large margins, large indentations, triple-spacing, increased leading (space between lines), increased kerning (space between letters), and any other such attempts at “padding” to increase the length of a paper are unacceptable, wasteful of trees, and will not fool your professor.

The paper must be neatly formatted, double-spaced with a one-inch margin on the top, bottom, and sides of each page. When submitting hard copy, be sure to use white paper and print out using dark ink. If it is hard to read your essay, it will also be hard to follow your argument