A new path to drug addiction: students' use of psychoactive substances to enhance cognitive functions
Abstract
According to foreign studies of recent years, the practices of using psychoactive substances are changing all over the world, especially noticeable are changes in such practices in developed countries. Among the practices that are being actively formed in the student population is the use of stimulating drugs, including medications, in order to increase productivity and academic effectiveness. In a study conducted in Russia, using an on-line survey on condition of anonymity (the answers of 606 students of Russian universities were analyzed), confirmation of the high level of stress experienced by the respondents was obtained, symptoms of emotional distress were recorded in some of the respondents. The study showed that a significant proportion of the sample used psychoactive substances, including medications designed to increase performance, improve memorization of material, and achieve the desired academic success. The facts of students of Russian universities turning to a wide range of drugs used to improve cognitive functions has been confirmed. The role of experienced stress as a factor that significantly increases the use of psychoactive substances was demonstrated. It was possible to establish a connection between individual attitudes of students, the features of their perception of the educational process, and the frequency of turning to psychoactive substances. The results obtained in this pilot study are important for planning further study of the problem of the use of psychoactive substances by university students, identifying social and personal factors of such consumption, and indicate promising areas of preventive work.
About the Author
O. V. Rychkova
Moscow State University of Psychology and Education
Russian Federation
Russian Federation
29 Sretenka st., Moscow, 127051, Phone: +7 (495) 632-92-02
References
1. Report of the International Narcotics Control Board for 2023 (E/INCB/2023/1). (In Russ.). Available at: https://unis.unvienna.org/unis/uploads/documents/2024-INCB/2325540R_INCB_Annual_Report.pdf (accessed 20 May 2024).
2. Report of the International Narcotics Control Board for 2019 (E/INCB/2019/1). (In Russ.). Available at: https://www.incb.org/documents/Publications/AnnualReports/AR2019/Annual_Report/Russian_ebook_AR2019.pdf (accessed 20 May 2024).
3. Rybakova L.N. Controlled drug use: the phenomenon and construct. Teoriya i praktika obshchestvennogo razvitiya, 2018, no. 12, pp. 40–48. (In Russ.). doi: 10.24158/tipor.2018.12.6
4. Sirota N.A., Yaltonskii V.M., Volkova T.V., Buzina T.S. Rukovodstvo po profilaktike zloupotrebleniya psikhoaktivnymi veshchestvami v studencheskoi srede [Guidelines for the prevention of substance abuse in the student environment]. Moscow, Sotsial'nyi proekt Publ., 2003. 319 p.
5. Tsvetkova L.A. Sotsial'naya psikhologiya narkotizma v studencheskoi srede. Avtoref. dis. d-ra psikhol. nauk [Social psychology of drug addiction in the student environment. Dr. psychol. sci. diss.]. St. Petersburg, 2011.
6. Makarova D.A., Tarakanova A.V. Nootropnye preparaty kak sredstvo dostizheniya sotsial'nogo uspekha: k probleme postchelovechestva. Byulleten' meditsinskikh Internetkonferentsii – Bulletin of Medical Internet Conferences, 2016, vol. 6, no. 5, pp. 967–969. (In Russ.).
7. Pozdnyakova M.E., Bruno V.V. The societal risk in the new tendencies for increasing drug use. Vestnik instituta sotziologii – Bulletin of the Institute of Sociology, 2018, vol. 9, no. 1, pp. 115–139. (In Russ.). doi: 10.19181/vis.2018.24.1.500
8. Pozdnyakova M.E., Bruno V.V. Prevalence of Drug Use Among the Working Population as a Form of Disadaptation Process. Part I. Sociologicheskaja nauka i social’naja praktika, 2019, vol. 7, no. 3, pp. 120–135. (In Russ.). doi: 10.19181/snsp.2019.7.3.6693
9. Pozdnyakova M.E., Bruno V.V. Prevalence of Drug Use Among the Working Population as a Form of Disadaptation Process. Part II. Sociologicheskaja nauka i social’naja praktika, 2019, vol. 7, no. 4, pp. 180–192. (In Russ.). doi: 10.19181/snsp.2019.7.4.6810
10. Rychkova O.V. Smart drugs are as a dangerous model of psychoactive substance use. Sovremennaia zarubezhnaia psikhologiia – Journal of Modern Foreign Psychology, 2021, vol. 10, no. 2, pp. 44–54. (In Russ.). doi: 10.17759/jmfp.2021100205
11. Ponomarenko I.V., Kurus' I.A., Lazyuk I.V., Selivanov V.S., Maramygin D.S., Zabela A.V., et al. Analysis of drug use trends in adolescence. Azimut nauchnykh issledovanii: pedagogika i psikhologiya – Azimuth of Scientific Research: Pedagogy and Psychology, 2020, vol. 9, no. 1, pp. 367–370. (In Russ.).
12. Seytakova B.M. "Pharmacy" drug addiction: causes and counteraction measures. Nauchnyi komponent, 2020, no. 3, pp. 16–23. (In Russ.).
13. McCabe S.E., Knight J.R., Teter C.J., Wechsler H. Non-medical use of prescription stimulants among US college students: prevalence and correlates from a national survey. Addiction, 2005, vol. 100, no. 1, pp. 96–106. doi: 10.1111/j.1360-0443.2005.00944.x
14. Bagot K.S., Kaminer Y. Efficacy of stimulants for cognitive enhancement in non-attention deficit hyperactivity disorder youth: a systematic review. Addiction, 2014, vol. 109, no. 4, pp. 547–557. doi: 10.1111/add.12460
15. Measham F., Shiner M. The legacy of 'Normalisation': the role of classical and contemporary criminological theory in understanding young people's drug use. The International Journal on Drug Policy, 2009, vol. 20, no. 6, pp. 502–508. doi: 10.1016/j.drugpo.2009.02.001
16. Verdi G., Weyandt L.L., Zavras B.M. Non-medical prescription stimulant use in graduate students: relationship with academic self-efficacy and psychological variables. Journal of Attention Disorders, 2016, vol. 20, no. 9, pp. 741–753. doi: 10.1177/1087054714529816
17. Ilieva I.P., Hook C.J., Farah M.J. Prescription stimulants' effects on healthy inhibitory control, working memory, and episodic memory: A meta-analysis. Journal of Cognitive Neuroscience, 2015, vol. 27, no. 6, pp. 1069–1089. doi: 10.1162/jocn_a_00776
18. Maier L.J., Ferris J.A., Winstock A.R. Pharmacological cognitive enhancement among non-ADHD individuals – A cross-sectional study in 15 countries. The International Journal on Drug Policy, 2018, vol. 58, pp. 104–112. doi: 10.1016/j.drugpo.2018.05.009
19. Hupli A., Didžiokaite G., Ydema M. Toward the Smarter Use of Smart Drugs: Perceptions and Experiences of University Students in the Netherlands and Lithuania. Contemporary Drug Problems, 2016, vol. 43, no. 3, pp. 242–257. doi: 10.1177/0091450916660143
20. Farah M. The unknowns of cognitive enhancement. Science, 2015, vol. 350, no. 6259, pp. 379–380. doi: 10.1126/science.aad5893
21. Smith M.F., Farah M.J. Are prescription stimulants "smart pills"? The epidemiology and cognitive neuroscience of prescription stimulant use by normal healthy individuals. Psychological Bulletin, 2011, vol. 137, no. 5, pp. 717–741. doi: 10.1037/a0023825
22. Cropsey K.L., Schiavon S., Hendricks P.S., Froelich M., Lentowicz I., Fargason R. Mixed-amphetamine salts expectancies among college students: Is stimulant induced cognitive enhancement a placebo effect? Drug and Alcohol Dependence, 2017, vol. 178, pp. 302–309. doi: 10.1016/j.drugalcdep.2017.05.024
23. Vo K., Neafsey P.J., Lin C.A. Concurrent use of amphetamine stimulants and antidepressants by undergraduate students. Patient preference and Adherence, 2015, vol. 9, pp. 161–172. doi: 10.2147/PPA.S74602
24. Kholmogorova A.B., Garanyan N.G., Tsatsulin T.O. Dynamics of indicators of perfectionism and symptoms of emotional distress in the russian student population over the past ten years: cohort study. Kul'turno-istoricheskaya psikhologiya – Cultural-Historical Psychology, 2019, vol. 15, no. 3, pp. 41–50. (In Russ.). doi: 10.17759/chp.2019150305
25. Ruzhenkova V.V., Ruzhenkov V.A., Khamskaya I.S. Russian adaptation of the DASS-21 for screening and diagnosis of depression, anxiety and stress. Vestnik nevrologii, psikhiatrii i neirokhirurgii – Bulletin of Neurology, Psychiatry and Neurosurgery, 2019, no. 10, pp. 39–46. (In Russ.).
26. Spravochnik lekarstvennykh preparatov Vidal' [Vidal's Handbook of Medicines]. Available at: https://www.vidal.ru/ (accessed 24 May 2024).
Review
For citations:
Rychkova O.V. A new path to drug addiction: students' use of psychoactive substances to enhance cognitive functions. Medical Psychology in Russia. 2023;15(4):49-65. (In Russ.)
Views:
205
Email this article 