How Do Opioids Affect The Brain?

0:00How do opioids affect the brain?

0:04I'm going to tell you.

0:05I'm Dr. Rodriguez from Healing Sky.

0:07I'm also the medical director of the Dalright Center for Healing.

0:10And today we're going to talk about the effects of opioids on the human brain.

0:15When you're taking opioids, they go into your bloodstream, they reach your brain.

0:20They bind to the opioid receptors.

0:22The one that's most implicated for our purposes is what's called the mu-opioid receptor.

0:30That is the one specific that affects pain relief, which is the desired effect of taking

0:36an opioid when it is given as a pain medication.

0:40That is the main use of opioids in medicine, is to relieve pain.

0:44It is also used as a cough suppressant with codeine, especially, and some of the cough

0:50syrups, and it's very effective for doing so, and it can help suppress cough.

0:55Now, when taken at higher doses, it can go beyond pain relief and it can create euphoria.

1:03And that is a desired effect by people who are taking it for the intentions of just getting

1:11high.

1:12But that is also what leads to a lot of addiction, is that euphoria, because people, they get

1:17attached to it, they really like it, and the positive reinforcement from that euphoria

1:23is very compelling, and it makes people want to do it again.

1:26So people keep doing opioids because of the euphoria.

1:29They eventually develop what's called dependence, and their body gets hooked on the opioids.

1:35And then, if they stop, the brain and the body starts to crave the opioids.

1:41It wants it back.

1:42It wants that euphoria back.

1:44Now, sometimes, if the person has been using it too long, they will develop a withdrawal

1:49syndrome and they will start getting sick, having come off of the opioids.

1:54That leads to intense cravings and sickness up until when they take the next opioid, which

1:59will then stop the cravings and stop the withdrawal syndrome all of a sudden.

2:06That relief of the withdrawal syndrome and that relief of the cravings is a powerful

2:13negative reinforcer.

2:15It's the removal of pain, not even having to get high, but just the removal of pain

2:19leads to the person having a negative reinforcement on the behavior, which will then make them

2:24want to do it again in the future.

2:27This negative reinforcement is powerful, and that's what can lead to addiction in people

2:32using opioids.

2:33Again, using opioids, it binds to the mu receptor in the brain.

2:38It creates first pain relief.

2:40At higher doses, it'll create euphoria.

2:43People keep taking it.

2:44They will develop a dependence to it.

2:46They try to stop abruptly on their own, and they will go into withdrawal, and that will

2:50drive them to seek it out and to use it again.

2:53These are the effects on the brain.

2:56It goes beyond just the pain reward system.

3:00It does spill over into the brain's reward system, how it perceives something in the

3:06environment as being desired or having some kind of psychological or neurochemical reward.

3:12This involves also now the use of dopamine, where the brain starts to release excessive

3:16dopamine in certain parts of the brain, especially the nucleus accumbens, which is going to be

3:21here in one of the deeper regions of the brain.

3:25That is the ultimate effect of the opioid that leads to the severe addiction that has

3:31led to the opioid crisis.

3:33I hope you find this information helpful.

3:37Please like, follow, and subscribe to my content here on Healing Sky.

3:42If you would like to see me as a client, you can find me at delraycenter.com.

3:46Please look for my podcast in the fall of 2026.

3:49Thank you.