Lesson video

Welcome to RSHE drugs and alcohol lesson on smoking and alcohol.

My name is Mr. Duffy and today were going to look at how addiction affects people.

Now, this lesson does cover issues about addiction.

If this is a sensitive topic to you, we recommend checking with a trusted adult before starting or doing the lesson with a trusted adult.

I'm Mr Duffy.

I'm really glad you've joined me today.

So, hopefully you've done really well on your intro quiz.

We're then going to look at the physical signs of addiction, the psychological effects of addiction, the addiction cycles, and you'll do your exit quiz at the end.

So let's take a look at some key words.

So, withdrawal is the combination of physical and mental effects that a person experiences after they stopped using or reduce their intake of a substance such as cannabis.

Cannabis, also known as marijuana, is a psychoactive drug from the cannabis plant used primarily for medical or recreational purposes.

So this lesson, you will need an exercise book or paper 'cause you will need to write some things down.

And in which case, you're going to need a pen or a pencil.

Let's consider this question.

What might be the possible signs of drug addiction? Fantastic.

So hopefully you've got some really good ideas of some really good things written down there for me.

So one of the things is loss of interest, apathy, or complacency.

Now that was quite interesting in the sense that they're taking drugs and they become quite withdrawn.

They can almost isolate themselves.

And as a result, things that they want and enjoy are no longer, they're no longer interested in.

There are physical signs, which we're going to look at today.

Change in physical appearance, discovering drug paraphernalia, rapid mood swings, and we're going to look at that today, reclusive or private behaviour, rapid change in what is considered normal for the individual, erratic behaviours, and that means they can be quite happy and then quite angry quite quickly and it can be quite erratic change in their behaviours quite quickly, additional behaviours, so things that just seem out of the ordinary that don't quite fit with that person, and changing sleeping habits.

So bloodshot eyes, dilated pupils, sniffing, itching, injection marks, puffy face, unusual skin colour are all noticeable signs of use and abuse.

Is that true or false? It's true.

If its an incessant occurrence chances are that the individual is using quite frequently.

A person can go to great lengths to hide these indicators as well.

However, if complacency has set in, they may not be so committed to hide in their use from others.

So it can, as the drug addiction increases and they're using more and more, it becomes more and more obvious.

One, they're not taking care of themselves.

So those inhibitions can be quite low.

And as a result, they're not maybe as bothered about hiding some of these things.

And, it can be quite difficult to hide as well.

So the psychological effects of addiction then, can include things like mood swings, having a negative outlook on life, loss of motivation, having episodes of drug-induced psychosis.

Drugs can cause mental health problems. As a results, some people are more likely to try and harm themselves or take their own life.

So let's look at this scenario.

Now in her late teens, Chelsea has started to regularly use cannabis.

She's concerned she has become addicted.

What might Chelsea have noticed or become aware of, that has led her to that conclusion? Please pause the video and press play when you have written down some ideas.

Okay.

So perhaps, Chelsea has experienced unusual mood swings or negative feelings.

She may be aware her appearance has changed.

Of course she may experience severe cravings for the drug.

So Chelsea is displaying symptoms of withdrawal from excessive cannabis use.

So hopefully, she's maybe trying to stop, trying to cut back.

She's might be realised at age 21 that she's taking too much of it and she's stopping.

And as a result, she's having what we would call withdrawal symptoms. They include the sweating, the cold sweats, the headaches, in severe cases, someone could even be confused, have seizures, or even run a fever.

Other signs include changes in their daily routine, lack of concern for personal hygiene, unusual need for money, financial problems, and change in friends and activities.

And this is a direct result of withdrawal.

That there may be in what we call the cycle.

And we will talk about the cycle of addiction in a second.

So what causes withdrawal symptoms? We know that people experience withdrawal symptoms from heavy drug use whether that's cannabis or another drug or even alcohol or smoking.

But what actually causes it? Pause the video and I'll see you in a second.

So the cause is then, is that the body and brain are working to maintain a state of balance.

And because of these balance, because of the substances and the changes in this balance, the body has to take steps to adjust, including the changes of certain neurotransmitters.

So these substances act on your brain's reward system, triggering the release of chemicals.

So alcohol, for example, is a depressive.

However, if someone was to stop taking alcohol, it would have a opposite effect of what the alcohol does because they're trying to get this balance and as a result.

Someone might be overstimulated.

And as a result, can actually experience anxiety, or irritability, where they become quite irritated.

And that's because the balances are trying to adjust.

So because it's a depressant, one chemical has gone down but because they stop taking it they need to build this one back up.

And as result, they're overstimulated and experience, like I said, anxiety.

So people who are withdrawing from addiction fantasise about using alcohol and drugs are behaviours to relieve the uncomfortable symptoms of withdrawal.

Is that true of false? It is true.

So it is normal for addicts to want to use drugs and alcohol to relieve the uncomfortable symptoms of withdrawal.

It is known as the cycle of addiction.

So the cycle of addiction, the overview is that addicts tend to fit into this cycle of using, building a tolerance, and what that means is that because they're using drugs so often, that they need more and more of it as their body builds up that tolerance to get the same effects, dependency, when they become dependent on that chemical, and then we have withdrawal, which is when they're trying to stop and you have this imbalance of chemicals.

So, Chelsea is trying really hard not to take cannabis but she's fantasising about using cannabis to relive and to relieve the uncomfortable symptoms of withdrawal Why is this normal for an addict? Pause the video and I'll see in a second.

Slide 18: let's look at what is known as the cycle of addiction.

An emotional trigger leads to a craving, which leads to the ritual of addictive behaviour.

Guilt over this causes another emotional trigger and the cycle continues.

Professional support can help break the cycle.

Now, please pause the video and describe the cycle of addiction in your own words.

So, there's lots of help and advice out there for people who would like further information.

And if you would like further information, Talk To Frank is a fantastic website, for young people especially, it gives the information that young people require in a really friendly way.

The National Institute on Drug Abuse is really good as well and the NHS website.

So please, if you require further information go to these websites.

So, thank you for taking part in my lessons.

I really hope you've enjoyed it.

And I really hope you've learned something today.

If you'd like to please ask your parent or carer to share your work on Twitter, tag it at Oak National and hashtag Learn With Oak.

And, I really look forward to seeing the work that you produced in today's lesson.

So, thank you for listening.

Thank you for watching.

Thank you for taking part and I'll see you soon.

Goodbye.