Methamphetamine Effects on Mood and Aggression

Methamphetamine use has a large variety of side effects.  In addition to numerous physical changes to a methamphetamine user’s appearance, there is also an elevated level of aggression.  The increased aggression in methamphetamine users is a result of the chemical imbalances in the brain that stem from the significant impact that the drug has on the brain.  Methamphetamine strongly affects dopamine receptors in the brain by increasing the release of dopamine in the brain.  The release is so much higher than normal and can cause severe withdrawal effects on people who engage in methamphetamine use.  Since methamphetamine reacts with dopamine, a receptor that responds positively to reward-motivated behavior, when users are not under the influence of methamphetamine the chemical imbalance can cause people to be more irritable.  In addition, methamphetamine is a very potent neurotoxin, which with prolonged use can cause severe and permanent effects of the brain’s dopamine receptors.

When an experiment to determine methamphetamine’s effect on mood was completed, researchers concluded that methamphetamine does not cause a large difference in mood, but it has to do more with varying serotonin levels.  The study suggests the hypothesis that even though the sample size was small, they based conclusions on participants with the same race and sex in order to decrease variability and methamphetamine use alone does not cause a noticeable increase in aggression that the methamphetamine user stereotype suggests.  Methamphetamine effects also have a lot to do with the genetics of each unique user so finding a definite answer to the question if methamphetamine increases aggression is difficult.  More similar studies must be conducted to observe the effects of methamphetamine on behavior while also being done on a larger scale.

Works Cited:

Payer, DE, EL Nurmi, SA Wilson, JT McCracken, and ED London. "Effects of Methamphetamine Abuse and Serotonin Transporter Gene Variants on Aggression and Emotion-processing Neurocircuitry." NCBI (n.d.): n. pag. Transl Psychiatry. Web. 21 Feb. 2012. <http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/22832817>.