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GI Web Glossary |
| There are 243 entries in the glossary. | Pages: «1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 » |
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| Term |
Definition |
| glucose | A simple sugar that the brain uses as its major source of energy. |
| | glutamate | The most common excitatory neurotransmitter in the brain. |
| | habilitate | The process of teaching the skills needed for successful living. Habilitation helps people recover from addiction by teaching life skills that were never learned because drug use interfered with the learning and maturation process. Habilitation is especially important for addicts who started drug use young. |
| | Halcion | A depressant drug of the benzodiazepine family used to induce sleep. |
| | hallucinogens | A diverse group of drugs that alter perceptions, thoughts and feelings. Hallucinogens do not produce hallucinations. These drugs include LSD, mescaline, MDMA (ecstasy), PCP, and psilocybin (magic mushrooms). |
| | Heroin | The potent, widely abused opiate that produces a profound addiction. It consists of two morphine molecules linked together chemically. |
| | hippocampus | A brain structure that is involved in emotions, motivation, and learning. It plays an important role for short-term (working) memory and is crucial for our ability to form long-term memories. |
| | homeostasis | The process of keeping the internal environment of the body stable while the outside world changes. |
| | hypothalamus | The part of the brain that controls many bodily functions, including feeding, drinking, and the release of many hormones. |
| | implicit memory | The memories acquired through unconscious learning processes, such as operant and classical conditioning. |
| | inhalants | Any drug administered by breathing in its vapors. Most inhalants are organic solvents such as glue and paint thinner, or anesthetic gases such as ether and nitrous oxide. |
| | inhibitory neurotransmitter | A neurotransmitter that acts to prevent a neuron from firing an action potential. |
| | inpatient treatment | Residential treatment for drug addiction in a hospital or clinic. |
| | interneuron | Any neuron that only sends its messages locally (within a millimeter or so). Many are inhibitory. |
| | intervention | The act of interrupting addiction and persuading the addict to enter treatment. |
| | intervention counselor | A person who conducts an intervention with an addict and the addict's family and close friends. |
| | intoxication | Being under the influence of, and responding to, the acute effects of a psychoactive drug. Intoxication typically includes feelings of pleasure, altered emotional responsiveness, altered perception, and impaired judgment and performance. |
| | kinesthetic information | Information from our muscles and joints that tells us where our body is in space and how its various parts are oriented in relation to each other. Kinesthetic information is crucial for making accurate movements. |
| | LAAM | A very long-lasting opiate agonist recently approved for the treatment of opiate addiction. |
| | ligand | Any chemical that binds to a receptor. Ligands may be agonists or antagonists. |
| | limbic system | A set of brain structures that generates our feelings, emotions, and motivations. It is also important in learning and memory. |
| | localization of function | A principal of brain organization that states that specific places (circuits) in the brain carry out specific functions. |
| | locus coeruleus | A group of neurons (nucleus) that is the source of all of the neurotransmitter norepinephrine in the brain. |
| | long term memory | Enduring memories about things, places, and events. |
| | long-term effects | The effects seen when a drug is used repeatedly over weeks, months, or years. These effects may outlast drug use. |
| Special Thanks:
Addiction Studies Program - Wake Forest University School of Medicine
False Messengers: How Addictive Drugs Change the Brain by David Friedman, PhD, and Sue Rusche, Harwood Academic Publishers, Amsterdam, The Netherlands, 1999. [www.addictionstudies.org]
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