Neuropsychological Testing and Substance Use Disorders
Written by Ronnit Nazarian, Psy.D. Most of us are aware of the long-standing emotional and behavioral effects of substance abuse. However, the more subtle and detrimental effects that are harder to assess are the negative impacts substance abuse has on a person’s cognitive abilities (e.g., short-term memory, fluid reasoning, processing speed). For example, we see that opioid addiction increases depressive emotions and behaviors. More subtle impacts of opioid addiction, according to research, are the effects on a person’s prefrontal cortex and temporal lobe.2 Consequently, these areas of impact, in turn, affect a person’s cognitive abilities, which our Manhattan psychiatrists can identify with a neuropsychological evaluation. Specifically, with an impact on the prefrontal cortex (e.g., influences emotion, memory, and executive function) and
