Types of Psychoactive Drugs and Their Affect on the Human Mind and Body

Added: 12/06/2005

We live in nervous surroundings. Especially in the world of high technical development, people get more stressed than ever before. Sometimes it is very hard to escape. Depressions, stress, work anxiety, impotence and problems in family all catch us in everyday life and make us anxious, nervous, and unsatisfied. That is why the production of psychoactive drugs has gained growing popularity in the last two decades. We can distinguish the two main types of psychoactive drugs as psychomotor stimulants and depressants. And there is a huge market for both.

The popularity of the psychoactive drugs is connected with modern style of life. Sometimes it is much easier to take a pill or drink a glass of wine in order to diminish the effects of stress on our mental and physical state than to find the core of problem and solve this problem in another way. Psychoactive drugs are chemical products that are able to change the activity of the brain. We obtain another way of perception, our mood and behavior change, consciousness sometimes becomes clouded. They are widely used nowadays for medical purposes, in most cases for treating psychological illnesses and neural disorders.

The usage of some psychoactive drugs results into strong dependence that can last for many years and sometimes it is quite difficult for people to get rid of it for a long period of time. In this connection, the psychoactive drugs can be harmful for the health and especially in an over-dose. If the dosage is correct and you take them within due period of time, they help and become effective.

But not all the psychoactive drugs have the same effect. The modern classification divides them into types according to different effects they have on a patient. The main types of the psychoactive drugs are psychomotor stymulants and depressants.

The effects of psychomotor stimulants become evident shortly after the usage and depending on the dosage. They intensify the heart activity and increase blood pressure, activate the sympathetic system. They are used for treating depressions. An over-dose obviously is not a good thing, and can result in hyper-activity, aggressive behavior and even halluncinating.

Caffeine is one of the famous light psychomotor stimulants. It helps to collect our thoughts and direct them to the right point. Coffee improves our mood and raises our tonus, especially in the morning when it can be very hard to wake up. But it is very important not to forget that abuse of coffee is harmful for our organism.

On the contrary, depressants reduce the level of physiological and mental activity. They calm the nervous system and help to inhibit some processes. Some of them are used in medicine for decreasing the emotional stress, tension and sense of anxiety, while others can be used also for treating heart diseases.

The psychological and physical dependence, as well as addiction are the main reasons why depressants can be harmful and you should take them carefully. An over-dose also may result in coma, fits and spasm. In many cases the effects of one depressant can be increases by the other, especially if the patient takes the medicine together with alcoholic beverages. Alcohol is considered to be also one of the depressants.

So, psychoactive drugs can be your best friend or worst enemy. Every patient who needs to be treated with such medications should possess complete information about right usage and dosage of such drugs. It is very important also to be aware of side effects and to try not to get into psychoactive substance dependence.

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