Relay-Version: version B 2.10 5/3/83; site utzoo.UUCP
Posting-Version: version B 2.10.2 9/18/84; site asgb.UUCP
Path: utzoo!watmath!clyde!bonnie!akgua!sdcsvax!bmcg!asgb!jjo
From: jjo@asgb.UUCP (Jeff Oliver)
Newsgroups: net.med
Subject: Neurotransmitters
Message-ID: <651@asgb.UUCP>
Date: Fri, 22-Mar-85 19:45:22 EST
Article-I.D.: asgb.651
Posted: Fri Mar 22 19:45:22 1985
Date-Received: Mon, 25-Mar-85 02:14:48 EST
Organization: Burroughs Corp. ASG, Boulder Colo.
Lines: 38

There has been a significant amount of discussion recently about the addictive
potential of diazepam etc.  I think that there is a more fundamental issue here
as to what exactly is addiction, why do some people have 'addictive
personalities', and what is homeostasis.

There seems to be mounting evidence that a great deal of behaviour is 
determined by neurotransmitters.  This may be no revelation to most, but I 
propose that a great deal of individual differences are determined by subtle 
variations in the activity or concentration of various neurotransmitters 
across a population.  

It seems that schizophrenia may be associated with abnormal levels of
serotonin, mania with acetylcholine, and depression with nor-epinephrine (this
is, admittedly, over simplified). It also seems reasonable to believe that
these effects exist on a continuum, that most of us fall somewhere on this
continuum, and that where we reside on this multi-dimensional surface
determines our personality.

Consider that an individual posseses a slightly
diminished capacity to produce nor-epinephrine at the synapse, this individual
feels subjectively slightly anxious and apprehensive constantly. The
individual feels that something is wrong although there appears to be no
external cause.  Therefore, the individual may learn that certain substances
(diazepam, amphetamine, etc.) can relieve the anxiety, thereby 'returning' this
individual to a state of homeostasis.

In this instance, can we really state
that this person has an addictive personality, or that he is addicted at all?
Could it be that the desire to consume substances which alter the relative
activities of certain neurotransmitters is merely an attempt by the nervous
system to reach a state of balance that was denied by heredity or environment?
And given that some individuals are born with this balance (read 'sense of well
being') is it not surprising that others will attempt to attain it?

Can physics be immoral?

J. Oliver
Burroughs ASG - Boulder