Your research paper should be 1,500-2,000-words and reflect critical thinking and analysis. Refer to the Academic Writing Guidelines Resource located in the Course Materials section for assistance with this.

You must have a minimum of six references to support your research. The references should be taken from the annotated bibliography completed earlier in the course.

Your research paper should include information about the following:

1. Brief history of the drug
2. Psychopharmacology of the drug
3. Current trends or issues
4. Societal concerns or issues related to the drug
5. Significance or relevance of topic to the counseling profession
6. Any future implications

Prepare this assignment according to the guidelines found in the APA Style Guide, located in the Student Success Center. An abstract is not required.#

You must proofread your paper. But do not strictly rely on your computer’s spell-checker and grammar-checker; failure to do so indicates a lack of effort on your part and you can expect your grade to suffer accordingly. Papers with numerous misspelled words and grammatical mistakes will be penalized. Read over your paper – in silence and then aloud – before handing it in and make corrections as necessary. Often it is advantageous to have a friend proofread your paper for obvious errors. Handwritten corrections are preferable to uncorrected mistakes.

Use a standard 10 to 12 point (10 to 12 characters per inch) typeface. Smaller or compressed type and papers with small margins or single-spacing are hard to read. It is better to let your essay run over the recommended number of pages than to try to compress it into fewer pages.

Likewise, large type, large margins, large indentations, triple-spacing, increased leading (space between lines), increased kerning (space between letters), and any other such attempts at “padding” to increase the length of a paper are unacceptable, wasteful of trees, and will not fool your professor.

The paper must be neatly formatted, double-spaced with a one-inch margin on the top, bottom, and sides of each page. When submitting hard copy, be sure to use white paper and print out using dark ink. If it is hard to read your essay, it will also be hard to follow your argument.

ADDITIONAL INFORMATION 

The history and Psychopharmacology of opioid

Introduction

Opioids are a class of drugs that act on the nervous system to promote feelings of well-being. The most commonly prescribed opioids are hydrocodone, codeine, methadone and morphine. Opioids can be used for mild pain (pain management), severe pain (analgesia) and post-operative pain.

History of opioid

Opioid was first discovered in the poppy plant, which is also known as opium poppy. The opium poppy was cultivated in Mesopotamia as early as 3400 BC. It was used to make opium, which is a natural substance found in the seed pods of this plant and also in other plants such as poppies, wild oats and hemp (Cannabis sativa). Opium has been used since ancient times throughout Asia Minor and Greece; however it wasn’t until 1500 years ago that records show that people were using opiates for pain relief or sleep induction.

The Sumerians were among those who first discovered this medicinal agent; they called it “hemlock” because it came from their native land of Sumeria where they had long lived before migrating to Egypt about 5000 years ago where they became acquainted with Egyptian culture by trading goods with them through trade routes such as wheat flour made from wheat seeds ground into flour then cooked on open fires at nightfall so families could eat before going bedtime around midnight when temperatures dropped significantly due to lack of sunlight exposure during winter months when vegetation dies off naturally due lack sunlight exposure during winter months when vegetation dies off naturally due lack sunlight exposure

Opioid pharmacology

Opioid receptors are a group of transmembrane proteins that respond to endogenous and exogenous opiate drugs. The structures of these receptors have been elucidated by X-ray crystallography, electron microscopy and biochemical studies. In addition to the known naturally occurring opioids (eg, endorphins), many synthetic substances with significant affinity for opioid receptors have been developed in recent years.

Opioids act through a wide range of mechanisms in the central nervous system (CNS) including analgesia, euphoria and reward pathways; however it is still unclear whether such effects are due to direct binding of an opioid onto its receptor/s or via a secondary mechanism involving other neurotransmitter systems such as acetylcholine or dopamine.[8]

Clinical use of opioid

Opioids have been used for the treatment of pain, but also as a general anesthetic. They are effective in treating pain and can be used to control symptoms such as nausea or vomiting.

The U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) classifies codeine-containing products under Schedule III of the Controlled Substances Act because they have a high potential for abuse and dependence when compared with other substances in this category.

Takeaway:

The term opioid is used to describe a class of drugs that have effects similar to those of morphine and codeine. Opioids are used as analgesics in clinical practice and research, with the most common opioids being morphine, heroin and oxycodone (OxyContin®).

The history of opioid use dates back thousands of years; however their pharmacology was not understood until recently when they were first characterized as “endogenous substances” by Alexander Shulgin in 1977. Following this discovery, pharmaceutical companies began researching them further as potential treatments for pain relief due to their similarity with endogenous endorphins which were already known for their role in blocking pain signals sent from the brain into peripheral tissues such as muscles or nerves at sites where damage had occurred due to injury or disease process such as cancer metastasis etcetera…

Conclusion

Opioid medications are currently being used in many different ways, including as painkillers and sedatives. The first opioid medications were synthesized in the 19th century, but they weren’t until the 20th century that doctors recognized their potential benefits for treating human pain. In recent decades, these compounds have been embraced by both researchers and clinicians because of their effectiveness at relieving pain and providing other benefits such as improving sleep quality in patients suffering from chronic conditions like cancer or chronic back pain.