Psychological Effects of Cocaine Use:

• Short-term: Increased alertness, anxiety, restlessness, paranoia

• Long-term: Depression, mood swings, irritability, hallucinations, and psychosis

• Behavioral changes: Risky behaviors, aggression, and social withdrawal (NIH, 2021).

Cocaine Addiction:
Cocaine is highly addictive. Over time, users develop tolerance and require higher doses to achieve the same effects. This leads to compulsive drug-seeking behavior and a loss of control over use, even when it causes significant personal, legal, or health problems.

References

Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration. (2021). Treatment for stimulant use disorders: Updated 2021 (Treatment Improvement Protocol [TIP] Series No. 33, Chapter 2—How stimulants affect the brain and behavior). Rockville, MD: U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/books/NBK576548/

Whether a person grabs a scratch off at the gas station, take a drive out to a casino, play online or participate in betting pools at work, that person is gambling.

Methodology and measure

• Game Addiction Scale (GAS), which evaluate symptoms such as salience, mood modification, conflict, and so on.

• Flow State Scale (FSS-2), which measures nine dimensions of loss of self consciousness, concentration, distorted time perception.

• Oxford Happiness Questionnaire (OHQ), a validated instrument that evaluate overall happiness.

The reasons why many gay and/or bisexual men need to incorporate drugs with sex has to do with a lot of shame built around the community.

Society's view towards LGBTQ community people and sex between men. Homophobic rhetoric and the traumatic effect that the AIDS epidemic had on gay people and sex has a huge part. AIDS propaganda perpetuating the concept that gay sex is deemed "dirty" or even a death sentence when engaging.

Prior bullying and religious trauma that LGBTQ people have experienced. The reality of LGBTQ people being raised in religious households who told them at a young age that gay sex is a sin and then in view themselves as sinful for being who they are grants self-esteem and guilt problems.

The reality that most LGBTQ people already have mental health disorders, health problems, are sex workers, racial/ethnic minorities, or has not have enough resources or education that their straight counterpart has all ties into why individual's might engage in more riskier behaviors.

• Decreased time with family, friends, and loved ones.

• Inability to enjoy sober sex and meaningful connections

• Increased risk of HIV and other sexually transmitted diseases

• Difficulties enjoying things and activities that were previously enjoyed. Making engaging in chemsex activities the only activity to enjoy.

• Chemsex involvement taking longer than planned, thus missing out on important responsibilities like work or school.

• Gradual inability to manage finances due to impaired decision making

• Increased substance use making life responsibilities difficult to manage.

• Mental health issues such as depression, anxiety, irritability, anger, paranoia, delusions, and even drug induced psychosis/schizophrenia. Prolonged use of crystal meth and even lead to long-term and permanent schizophrenia.

• Lastly, increased risk of overdose and death

There are many resources and organizations available like the LGBT Center that provides numerous amounts of resources to help struggling individuals- gay or straight. Above is a link for the Los Angeles LGBT Center- Substance Use and Recovery Services.

Services include:

• Methodology: Helping individuals develop strategies and goals to reduce or stop the use of crystal meth. There are group sessions and individual sessions available in a judgement free zone.

• Individual Therapy

• Intensive Day Outpatient Program

• Fentanyl Strips & NARCAN

.. and so much more!

The Los Angeles LGBT Center can also provide you resources to the many inpatient residential rehab facilities here in Los Angeles that specialize in "Chemsex." There are AA groups and CMA (Crystal Meth Anonymous) groups available at your fingertips.

You can do this! I believe in you!

Chemsex – Checkpoint ARAS. (n.d.). https://www.checkpointaras.ro/en/stay-informed/chemsex/

Dr. Rege. (2025, April 19). Meth, sex & dopamine - the pleasure trap that hijacks your brain [Video]. YouTube. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9ZDTZtfx2dQ

Therapeutic use of opioids focuses on pain relief, Pain level varie form moderate to severe acute pain, post op care after surgery or accidents are perfect examples of opiods use for managing chronic pain,

Behavior is teaching addicts strategies how to function without drugs, how to deal with cravings, and relapse in worst cased scenario. Behavioral treatments, include individual counseling, group or family counseling, contingency management, and cognitivebehavioral therapies, these can help patients improve their personal relationships and their ability to function at work and in the community.

Pharmacological help with symptoms such as countering the effects of the drug on the brain and behavior, and can be used to relieve withdrawal symptoms, help overcome drug cravings, or treat an overdose.

• Low levels of happiness: lower happiness scores being strongly correlated with higher levels of gaming addiction.

• Distortion of time perception (Flow component): losing tract of time suggests that immersive quality of games can reinforce compulsive play. Time distortion is leading to the extended gaming session.

• Social Features in games: multiplayer functions in game chat or social communities were leading to higher addiction levels.

• Time management interventions: Gamers should be encouraged to monitor their playtime.

• Cognitive Behavior Therapy (CBT): it can help individuals recognize the triggers of their gaming habits and develop healthier coping mechanisms.

• Game design interventions: developers can play role like pop-up alerts to remind players to take breaks

Video game addiction makes players low happiness, immersive flow experiences (time distortion), and social game elements in predicting problematic gaming behaviors. So, It is important to maintain a balance between engagement and moderation will be essential to ensuring that video games remain a healthy and enriching activity rather than a compulsive or addictive one.

Daria J. Kuss and Mark D. Griffiths, Nottingham Trent University (2011). Online gaming addiction in children and adolescents. Journal of Behavioral Addictions 1. pp. 3-22 (2012).

Nora D. Volkow, M.D

July 2001, Revised October 2011

Google scholarly

Penn State PRO wellness Teen Health: Substance Use and Abuse

Mar 12, 2018

Available at https://youtu.be/6fmhLcYSn-Y?si=a3qJKzVKgC7dgwUN

Pornography includes different types of sexual content meant to arouse or excite people. This can be in the form of pictures, videos, written stories, or other media. Anything that shows or describes sexual activity.

and personality of nursing students: a cross-sectional study in Egypt. BMC Nurs 24, 414 (2025).

https://doi.org/10.1186/s12912-025-02918-z

FreeMedEducation. (2022, October 8). Part 7: The Binge Mechanism | Your Brain on Porn | Animated series [Video]. YouTube. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bC_529ScXeM

FreeMedEducation. (2023b, August 10). Part 244 (Final part): Restarting the Brain | Your Brain on Porn | Animated series [Video]. YouTube. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fcQKDyNPgzg

By. (2024a, July 31). How porn can negatively impact love and intimacy. Fight the New Drug. https://fightthenewdrug.org/how-porn-negatively-impact-relationship/

Stewart, D.N., Szymanski, D.M. Young Adult Women’s Reports of Their Male Romantic Partner’s Pornography Use as a Correlate of Their Self-Esteem, Relationship Quality, and Sexual Satisfaction. Sex Roles 67, 257–271 (2012). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11199-012-0164-0

By. (2024, August 20). How porn can impact mental health and fuel loneliness. Fight the New Drug. https://fightthenewdrug.org/how-porn-can-impact-mental-health-and-fuel-loneliness/

Many studies have consistently found that people who watch porn often report feeling less satisfied and happy in their relationships.

• Not to mention, people who watch porn often argue more with their partners, feel less committed, and have a harder time working through relationship problems.

Watching pornography can affect both the person viewing it and their partner. According to Stewart and Szymanski (2012), “partners of porn consumers also report negative effects, such as lower self-esteem, worse relationship quality, and less sexual satisfaction.” This quote shows that watching porn can hurt relationships by causing emotional struggles and unhappiness. It affects more than just the person watching; it can also damage trust, closeness, and connection between partners.

 1. Needs to gamble with increasing amounts of money.

 2. Is restless or irritable when trying to cut down or stop their gambling.

 3. Has made repeated unsuccessful efforts to control or stop gambling.

 4. Is frequently preoccupied with gambling

5. Lies to cover up amount of gambling.

 6. Has jeopardized relationships because of gambling.

7. Relies on others to provide money

This is just a portion of signs/symptoms listed under diagnosis

Armstrong, T, et al  J Behav Addict 2020,

PubMed Central (2016)

DSM-5 Diagnostic and Statistical Manual 5^th Edition

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