Overview of Central Nervous System Depressants (CNS Depressants)

CNS Depressants Slow down the operations of the brain. They first affect those areas of the brain that control a person’s conscious, voluntary actions. As dosage increases, depressants begin to affect the part of the brain controlling automatic, unconscious processes, such as heartbeat and respiration.

Alcohol is the model for the CNS Depressants category of drugs. Alcohol is the most familiar, and most widely abused, depressant. With some exceptions, all depressants affect people in much the same way as does alcohol.

Possible Effects of CNS Depressants

Once again, alcohol is the model here. Other depressants affect people in much the same way as does alcohol.

Includes:

• Reduced social inhibitions
• Impaired ability to divide attention
• Slow reflexes
• Impaired judgment and concentration
• Impaired vision and coordination
• Slurred, mumbled or incoherent speech
• A wide variety of emotional effects, such as euphoria, depression, suicidal, tendencies, laughing or crying for no apparent reason, etc…

Signs and Symptoms of Depressant Overdose

Overdoses of CNS Depressants produce effects that are essentially identical to those of alcohol overdoses.

Includes:

• The person becomes extremely drowsy and may pass out
• Heartbeat slows
• Respiration becomes shallow
• Skin may feel cold and clammy
• Death may result from respiratory failure

Combinations of Depressants can be especially risky. Unfortunately, many people routinely do combine depressants, usually in the form of alcohol and some other depressant. In some cases, the effects that result may be greater than the sum of the effects that the two drugs would produce independently.

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