Desempeño cognitivo durante la abstinencia de metanfetaminas

Abstract

A documentary investigation was carried out to understand the relationship between methamphetamine abstinence and cognitive performance in methamphetamine users. According to regional figures, methamphetamine is the fourth initiation drug and the first illegal impact drug according to statistics (ENA, 2011; ENCODAT, 2016). In a work carried out by Goldstein and Volkow (2011) it is confirmed that there is a disturbance in the prefrontal cortex due to addiction, and that from these alterations emerge compulsive substance use, disadvantageous behaviors that are associated with addiction, and deficits in decision making. Regarding methamphetamine withdrawal, several studies found difficulties in executive functions and working memory during the withdrawal process. In conclusion, we can see that there is a weakening of prefrontal regions responsible for executive functions and a memory deficit compensated by a dopamine deficit. Regarding the altered functions, despite the heterogeneity of the results, we see that there is poor performance in inhibitory control, execution speed and information processing. Although these deficits are also accompanied by a problem with impulse control and social cognition.