Euphoriant

Euphoria ( /juːˈfɔːriə/ (listen)) is the experience (or affect) of pleasure or excitement and intense feelings of well-being and happiness. Certain natural rewards and social activities, such as aerobic exercise, laughter, listening to or making music, and dancing, can induce a state of euphoria. Euphoria is also a symptom of certain neurological or neuropsychiatric disorders, such as mania. Romantic love and components of the human sexual response cycle are also associated with the induction of euphoria. Certain drugs, many of which are addictive, can cause euphoria, which at least partially motivates their recreational use. Hedonic hotspots – i.e., the pleasure centers of the brain – are functionally linked. Activation of one hotspot results in the recruitment of the others. Inhibition of one hotspot results in the blunting of the effects of activating another hotspot. Therefore, the simultaneous activation of every hedonic hotspot within the reward system is believed to be necessary for generating the sensation of an intense euphoria. The word 'euphoria' is derived from the Ancient Greek terms εὐφορία: εὖ eu meaning 'well' and φέρω pherō meaning 'to bear'. It is semantically opposite to dysphoria. A 1706 English dictionary defines euphoria as 'the well bearing of the Operation of a Medicine, i.e., when the patient finds himself eas'd or reliev'd by it'. In the 1860s, the English physician Thomas Laycock described euphoria as the feeling of bodily well-being and hopefulness; he noted its misplaced presentation in the final stage of some terminal illnesses and attributed such euphoria to neurological dysfunction. Sigmund Freud's 1884 monograph Über Coca described (his own) consumption of cocaine producing 'the normal euphoria of a healthy person', while about 1890 the German neuropsychiatrist Carl Wernicke lectured about the 'abnormal euphoria' in patients with mania. A 1903 article in The Boston Daily Globe refers to euphoria as 'pleasant excitement' and 'the sense of ease and well-being'. In 1920 Popular Science magazine described euphoria as 'a high sounding name' meaning 'feeling fit': normally making life worth living, motivating drug use, and ill formed in certain mental illnesses. Robert S. Woodworth's 1921 textbook Psychology: A study of mental life, describes euphoria as an organic state which is the opposite of fatigue, and 'means about the same as feeling good.' In 1940 The Journal of Psychology defined euphoria as a 'state of general well being ... and pleasantly toned feeling.' A decade later, finding ordinary feelings of well being difficult to evaluate, American addiction researcher Harris Isbell redefined euphoria as behavioral changes and objective signs typical of morphine. However, in 1957 British pharmacologist D. A. Cahal did not regard opioid euphoria as medically undesirable but an effect which 'enhance the value of a major analgesic.' The 1977 edition of A Concise Encyclopaedia of Psychiatry called euphoria 'a mood of contentment and well-being,' with pathologic associations when used in a psychiatric context. As a sign of cerebral disease, it was described as bland and out of context, representing an inability to experience negative emotion. In the 21st century, euphoria is generally defined as a state of great happiness, well-being and excitement, which may be normal, or abnormal and inappropriate when associated with psychoactive drugs, manic states, or brain disease or injury.