Discuss the key question you have studied from biological psychology. - AQA - A-Level Psychology - Question 10 - 2018 - Paper 1

One key question in biological psychology is the effectiveness of drug therapy in treating addiction, particularly focusing on substances like heroin.

Addiction to drugs imposes significant social costs, including increased crime rates and NHS expenditures. Therefore, effective treatment is crucial.

A commonly used treatment is methadone, which serves as a replacement therapy that reduces cravings for heroin. This approach helps patients to avoid the immediate relapse associated with withdrawal symptoms, thereby potentially improving their recovery outcomes.

Furthermore, methadone reduction programs can encourage abstinence from heroin altogether, which is essential for reducing the societal impacts of addiction. Heroin addiction alters the brain's chemistry, indicating that any successful treatment must also address these biological changes associated with addiction.

Critically, repeated exposure to recreational drugs such as heroin can create tolerance and withdrawal symptoms, leading to social and economic burdens. Thus, understanding how methadone modulates brain functions, particularly by acting at the synaptic level on dopamine and endorphins, is vital for evaluating its effectiveness.

Research methods such as PET scans can be employed to investigate brain activity in response to methadone treatment, enabling a clearer assessment of its efficacy.