Bruce K. Alexander

Last updated
Bruce K. Alexander
Born
Bruce K. Alexander

(1939-12-20) 20 December 1939 (age 84)
Occupations
Awards
  • In 2007, Alexander received the Nora and Ted Sterling Prize in Support of Controversy from Simon Fraser University.
  • In 2011, he was invited to present at the Royal Society of Arts and Manufactures in London.

Bruce K. Alexander (born 20 December 1939) [1] is a psychologist and professor emeritus from Vancouver, BC, Canada. [1] He has taught and conducted research on the psychology of addiction at Simon Fraser University since 1970. [2] He retired from active teaching in 2005. Alexander and SFU colleagues conducted a series of experiments into drug addiction known as the Rat Park experiments. He has written two books about addiction: Peaceful Measures: Canada's Way Out of the War on Drugs (1990) [3] and The Globalization of Addiction: A Study in Poverty of the Spirit (2008). [4]

Contents

Rat Park

The "Rat Park" experiments were published in the journal Psychopharmacology in the late 1970s and early 1980s. Alexander and his colleagues found that the rats in their study that were housed in isolation consumed more morphine than the rats in the rat park colony. [5] [6] Further studies by other researchers failed to reproduce the original experiment's results. [5] [6] One of those studies found that both caged and "park" rats showed a decreased preference for morphine, suggesting a genetic difference. [5] Other studies have supported the conclusions, finding that environmental enrichment induces neurological changes that would serve to decrease the chances of opiate addiction [7] [8] Alexander's work laid the groundwork for a body of work in rodents on the social influences on addiction. [8]

Writings and views

Alexander then explored the broader implications of Rat Park experiments for human beings. The main conclusions of his experimental and historical research since 1985 can be summarized as follows:

  1. Drug addiction is only a small corner of the addiction problem. Most serious addictions do not involve either drugs or alcohol [9]
  2. Addiction is more a social problem than an individual problem. When socially integrated societies are fragmented by internal or external forces, addiction of all sorts increases dramatically, becoming almost universal in extremely fragmented societies. [10]
  3. Addiction arises in fragmented societies because people use it as a way of adapting to extreme social dislocation. As a form of adaptation, addiction is neither a disease that can be cured nor a moral error that can be corrected by punishment and education. [11]

In 2014, Alexander published the book A History of Psychology in Western Civilization. [12]

Awards and recognition

In 2007, Alexander received the Nora and Ted Sterling Prize in Support of Controversy from Simon Fraser University. [13] In 2011, he was invited to present at the Royal Society of Arts and Manufactures in London. [14]

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Opioid</span> Psychoactive chemical

Opioids are a class of drugs that derive from, or mimic, natural substances found in the opium poppy plant. Opioids work in the brain to produce a variety of effects, including pain relief. As a class of substances, they act on opioid receptors to produce morphine-like effects.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Ventral tegmental area</span> Group of neurons on the floor of the midbrain

The ventral tegmental area (VTA), also known as the ventral tegmental area of Tsai, or simply ventral tegmentum, is a group of neurons located close to the midline on the floor of the midbrain. The VTA is the origin of the dopaminergic cell bodies of the mesocorticolimbic dopamine system and other dopamine pathways; it is widely implicated in the drug and natural reward circuitry of the brain. The VTA plays an important role in a number of processes, including reward cognition and orgasm, among others, as well as several psychiatric disorders. Neurons in the VTA project to numerous areas of the brain, ranging from the prefrontal cortex to the caudal brainstem and several regions in between.

Rat Park was a series of studies into drug addiction conducted in the late 1970s and published between 1978 and 1981 by Canadian psychologist Bruce K. Alexander and his colleagues at Simon Fraser University in British Columbia, Canada.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Dizocilpine</span> Chemical compound

Dizocilpine (INN), also known as MK-801, is a pore blocker of the NMDA receptor, a glutamate receptor, discovered by a team at Merck in 1982. Glutamate is the brain's primary excitatory neurotransmitter. The channel is normally blocked with a magnesium ion and requires depolarization of the neuron to remove the magnesium and allow the glutamate to open the channel, causing an influx of calcium, which then leads to subsequent depolarization. Dizocilpine binds inside the ion channel of the receptor at several of PCP's binding sites thus preventing the flow of ions, including calcium (Ca2+), through the channel. Dizocilpine blocks NMDA receptors in a use- and voltage-dependent manner, since the channel must open for the drug to bind inside it. The drug acts as a potent anti-convulsant and probably has dissociative anesthetic properties, but it is not used clinically for this purpose because of the discovery of brain lesions, called Olney's lesions (see below), in laboratory rats. Dizocilpine is also associated with a number of negative side effects, including cognitive disruption and psychotic-spectrum reactions. It inhibits the induction of long term potentiation and has been found to impair the acquisition of difficult, but not easy, learning tasks in rats and primates. Because of these effects of dizocilpine, the NMDA receptor pore blocker ketamine is used instead as a dissociative anesthetic in human medical procedures. While ketamine may also trigger temporary psychosis in certain individuals, its short half-life and lower potency make it a much safer clinical option. However, dizocilpine is the most frequently used uncompetitive NMDA receptor antagonist in animal models to mimic psychosis for experimental purposes.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Ibogaine</span> Psychoactive substance found in plants in the family Apocynaceae

Ibogaine is a psychoactive indole alkaloid obtained either by extraction from plants in the family Apocynaceae such as Tabernanthe iboga, Voacanga africana, and Tabernaemontana undulata or by semi-synthesis from the precursor compound voacangine, another plant alkaloid. The total synthesis of ibogaine was described in 1956. Structural elucidation by X-ray crystallography was completed in 1960.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Apomorphine</span> Chemical compound

Apomorphine, sold under the brand name Apokyn among others, is a type of aporphine having activity as a non-selective dopamine agonist which activates both D2-like and, to a much lesser extent, D1-like receptors. It also acts as an antagonist of 5-HT2 and α-adrenergic receptors with high affinity. The compound is historically a morphine decomposition product made by boiling morphine with concentrated acid, hence the -morphine suffix. Contrary to its name, apomorphine does not actually contain morphine or its skeleton, nor does it bind to opioid receptors. The apo- prefix relates to it being a morphine derivative ("[comes] from morphine").

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Septal area</span> Area in the lower, posterior part of the medial surface of the frontal lobe

The septal area, consisting of the lateral septum and medial septum, is an area in the lower, posterior part of the medial surface of the frontal lobe, and refers to the nearby septum pellucidum.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">18-Methoxycoronaridine</span> Chemical compound

18-Methoxycoronaridine, also known as zolunicant, is a derivative of ibogaine invented in 1996 by the research team around the pharmacologist Stanley D. Glick from the Albany Medical College and the chemists Upul K. Bandarage and Martin E. Kuehne from the University of Vermont. In animal studies it has proven to be effective at reducing self-administration of morphine, cocaine, methamphetamine, nicotine and sucrose. It has also been shown to produce anorectic effects in obese rats, most likely due to the same actions on the reward system which underlie its anti-addictive effects against drug addiction.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Area postrema</span> Medullary structure in the brain that controls vomiting

The area postrema, a paired structure in the medulla oblongata of the brainstem, is a circumventricular organ having permeable capillaries and sensory neurons that enable its dual role to detect circulating chemical messengers in the blood and transduce them into neural signals and networks. Its position adjacent to the bilateral nuclei of the solitary tract and role as a sensory transducer allow it to integrate blood-to-brain autonomic functions. Such roles of the area postrema include its detection of circulating hormones involved in vomiting, thirst, hunger, and blood pressure control.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Cocaine and amphetamine regulated transcript</span> Neuropeptide protein

Cocaine- and amphetamine-regulated transcript, also known as CART, is a neuropeptide protein that in humans is encoded by the CARTPT gene. CART appears to have roles in reward, feeding, and stress, and it has the functional properties of an endogenous psychostimulant.

Animal psychopathology is the study of mental or behavioral disorders in non-human animals.

Psychological dependence is a cognitive disorder and a form of dependence that is characterized by emotional–motivational withdrawal symptoms upon cessation of prolonged drug use or certain repetitive behaviors. Consistent and frequent exposure to particular substances or behaviors is responsible for inducing psychological dependence, requiring ongoing engagement to prevent the onset of an unpleasant withdrawal syndrome driven by negative reinforcement. Neuronal counter-adaptation is believed to contribute to the generation of withdrawal symptoms through changes in neurotransmitter activity or altered receptor expression. Environmental enrichment and physical activity have been shown to attenuate withdrawal symptoms.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Environmental enrichment</span> Brain stimulation through physical and social surroundings

Environmental enrichment is the stimulation of the brain by its physical and social surroundings. Brains in richer, more stimulating environments have higher rates of synaptogenesis and more complex dendrite arbors, leading to increased brain activity. This effect takes place primarily during neurodevelopment, but also during adulthood to a lesser degree. With extra synapses there is also increased synapse activity, leading to an increased size and number of glial energy-support cells. Environmental enrichment also enhances capillary vasculation, providing the neurons and glial cells with extra energy. The neuropil expands, thickening the cortex. Research on rodent brains suggests that environmental enrichment may also lead to an increased rate of neurogenesis.

Self-administration is, in its medical sense, the process of a subject administering a pharmacological substance to themself. A clinical example of this is the subcutaneous "self-injection" of insulin by a diabetic patient.

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Laughter in animals other than humans describes animal behavior which resembles human laughter.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Tabernanthine</span> Chemical compound

Tabernanthine is an alkaloid found in Tabernanthe iboga.

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Addiction is a state characterized by compulsive engagement in rewarding stimuli, despite adverse consequences. The process of developing an addiction occurs through instrumental learning, which is otherwise known as operant conditioning.

Catharine Antonia Winstanley is a Canadian behavioural neuroscientist. She is a Full professor in the Department of Psychology and the Djavad Mowafaghian Centre for Brain Health at the University of British Columbia. In this role, she co-created the world’s first rat casino in an animal lab experiment to model human gambling. In 2020, Winstanley was elected to the Royal Society of Canada's College of New Scholars, Artists and Scientists.

The Monkey Drug Trials of 1969 were a series of controversial animal testing experiments that were conducted on primates to study the effects of various psychoactive substances. The trials shed light on the profound effects of drug addiction and withdrawal in primates, pioneering critical insights into human substance abuse.

References

  1. 1 2 Alexander, Bruce. "Curriculum Vitae " Archived June 7, 2013, at the Wayback Machine , Retrieved on 12 May 2013.
  2. ↑ http://www.psyc.sfu.ca/people/index.php?topic=finf&id=74%5B%5D
  3. ↑ Alexander, B.K. (1990) Peaceful Measures: Canada's Way Out of the War on Drugs. Toronto: University of Toronto Press. ISBN   0-8020-6753-0 [ page needed ]
  4. ↑ Alexander, B.K. (2008). The Globalization of Addiction: A study in poverty of the spirit. Oxford, UK: Oxford University Press. ISBN   0-19-958871-6 [ page needed ]
  5. 1 2 3 Petrie, B. F (2016). "Environment is not the Most Important Variable in Determining Oral Morphine Consumption in Wistar Rats". Psychological Reports. 78 (2): 391–400. doi:10.2466/pr0.1996.78.2.391. PMID   9148292. S2CID   45068460.
  6. 1 2 Bozarth, M. A; Murray, A; Wise, R. A (1989). "Influence of housing conditions on the acquisition of intravenous heroin and cocaine self-administration in rats". Pharmacology Biochemistry and Behavior. 33 (4): 903–7. doi:10.1016/0091-3057(89)90490-5. PMID   2616610. S2CID   6910048.
  7. ↑ Xu, Zhiwei; Hou, Bing; Gao, Yan; He, Fuchu; Zhang, Chenggang (2007). "Effects of enriched environment on morphine-induced reward in mice". Experimental Neurology. 204 (2): 714–9. doi:10.1016/j.expneurol.2006.12.027. PMID   17331503. S2CID   43363493.
  8. 1 2 Eitan, Shoshana; Emery, Michael A; Bates, M.L.Shawn; Horrax, Christopher (2017). "Opioid addiction: Who are your real friends?". Neuroscience & Biobehavioral Reviews. 83: 697–712. doi:10.1016/j.neubiorev.2017.05.017. PMID   28552458. S2CID   36995951.
  9. ↑ Alexander, Bruce K; Schweighofer, Anton R. F (1988). "Defining 'addiction'". Canadian Psychology. 29 (2): 151–62. doi:10.1037/h0084530.
  10. ↑ Alexander, Bruce K (2009). "The Globalization of Addiction". Addiction Research. 8 (6): 501–26. doi:10.3109/16066350008998987. S2CID   143487382.
  11. ↑ "A Change of Venue for Addiction: From Medicine to Social Science". Archived from the original on 2011-11-13. Retrieved 2011-12-12.
  12. ↑ Alexander, Bruce. A History of Psychology in Western Civilization. Cambridge University Press (2014). ISBN   978-0521189309 [ page needed ]
  13. ↑ "Bruce Alexander".
  14. ↑ https://www.thersa.org/discover/videos/event-videos/2011/03/addiction-what-to-do-when-everything-else-has-failed-/%5B%5D%5B%5D
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