Addiction Flashcards

Question

AO3 for Learning Theory

Answer 1

**Carter and Tiffany** Meta analysis of 41 studies into cue reactivity Presented dependent, non-dependent smokers and non-smokers with smoking related cues ie. lighter, ash tray Self reported desire was measured alongside heart rate Found that dependent smokers reacted most strongly to the cues eg. increased heart rate and reported cravings to smoke Supports cue reactivity as dependent smokers had learned secondary associations between smoking related stimuli and the pleasurable effects of smoking

Answer 2

*Forming addiction* SOCIAL LEARNING THEORY form due to the experience of observing a role model being rewarded for their gambling behaviour (vicarious reinforcement). The reward could be their enjoyment in gambling or the occasional wins and financial returns they gain. This observation doesn't have to be direct it can be through the media (news, social media, films or TV). *Maintaining addiction* OPERANT CONDITIONING positive reinforcements; the reward of winning money and the 'buzz' excitement from gambling. Therefore, the gambling behaviour is likely to be repeated to gain the same reward. Negative reinforcement to distract the individual from their everyday life e.g. unpleasant feelings and anxiety. Therefore, they will continue to engage in gambling behaviour to avoid the negative consequence of anxiety. **PARTIAL REINFORCEMENT** If a person is rewarded every time this becomes predictable and boring, meaning the individual is less likely to repeat the addictive behaviour and develop an addiction. Partial reinforcement is when the person is rewarded only SOME of the time. This is unpredictable and exciting and so increases the likelihood of repeating the gambling behaviour and developing an addiction.

Answer 3

FIXED RATE • type of partial reinforcement where behaviour is reinforced a predictable amount of times • e.g. a slot machine paying out every tenth time Or every 5 minutes. **This does NOT form an addiction** VARIABLE REINFORCEMENT • type of partial reinforcement where behaviour is reinforced an unpredictable amount of times (at variable intervals) • e.g. you win at black jack on the 15th time, then on the 2nd time, the on the 7th etc. • This highly more reinforcing (rewarding) as it is highly unpredictable and exciting **leads to stronger, more persistent gambling behaviour.**

Answer 4

**Parke and Griffiths** found that gamblers become addicted to the rewards provided by gambling such as money, thrill and excitement and 'near misses" are reinforcing as it raises hope for future success. This supports the idea of positive and variable reinforcement making gambling highly addictive, due to the unpredictability of winning and the associated excitement.

Answer 5

• argues addictive behaviour cognitive biases • Cognitive bias is where a person's thinking, memory and attentional processes are faulty leading an individual to make irrational judgements and poor decisions. • Rickwood et al (2010) classifies cognitive biases into four categories: - Skill Bias = overestimate ability to influence random events believing they have special skills or knowledge that’ll make them more likely to win - Ritual Bias = believe they have greater chance of winning if they have engaged in lucky rituals/ superstitious behaviour - Selective recall Bias = remembers wins but forget or minimise losses leading to them gambling more eg. loss described as “near win” - Gamblers Fallacy = distorted views about chance as believe a run of losses must be followed by a win

Answer 6

• refers to a person's beliefs about control or lack of control over their behaviour. • addicts with low self-efficacy believe they cannot give up gambling and it will always be a 'part of them', thus leading to relapse. • In turn, this leads to a self-fulfilling prophecy in which the individual continues to gamble because their belief is they cannot stop themselves. • This causes their gambling addiction to be reinforced as the relapse confirms their beliefs "see I told you I couldn't stop"

Answer 7

**Grifiths** carried out natural experiment on a sample of 30 regular gamblers comparing them to a control group of 30 occasional gamblers. They played on a fruit machine and were asked to 'think aloud' and verbalise their thought processes whilst playing and were interviewed afterwards. They found that regular gamblers saw themselves as 'skilful' at the fruit machine, made more irrational statements "I'm going to bluff this machine" compared to occasional gamblers. They were also more likely to explain losses as near wins'. This supports the role of cognitive biases such as illusion of control in gambling addiction. *use of 'thinking aloud' research has been questioned.* *This self-report method is used in a lot of studies in to the cognitive explanation of gambling.* *Some psychologists believe that what people say in gambling situations does not necessarily represent what they really believe. 'Off the cuff' remarks made whilst gambling may not reflect an addict's deeply-held beliefs about chance and skill.* *Therefore, researchers may get misleading impression that gamblers' thought processes are irrational when in fact they are not.* *Limiting the validity of the research used to support the cognitive explanation of gambling.*

Answer 8

Nicotine replacement therapy (NRT) - (agonist substitution) Aim: Provide nicotine from a less harmful source e.g. patches, gum, nasal spray, rather than a cigarette How it works: NRT stimulates the nicotine receptors and activates the brain's reward pathway through release of dopamine to stimulate the receptors in the nucleus accumbens creating the same pleasurable feeling as smoking a cigarette does. This can lead to a reduction in the nicotine withdrawal symptoms and stops the cravings. The reduction in the withdrawal symptoms removes the unpleasant circumstances of quitting smoking and so continuing with NRT is negatively reinforced NRT also desensitises the nicotine receptors in the brain by releasing small amounts of nicotine so that only some receptors are full with nicotine, but not all. Therefore, over time the number of nicotine receptors reduce, in turn reducing cravings therefore relapse is less likely to occur. The addict can gradually reduce the dosage of nicotine as their tolerance to nicotine is reduced.

Answer 9

No specific drug treatment for gambling has been approved in the UK. There is ongoing research into several candidates, the most promising being an opiod antagonist such as naltrexone, which is conventionally used to treat heroin addiction. This has come about because of the similarities between gambling addictions and substance addictions. Opioid Antagonist Aim: Reduce the pleasurable feeling associated with gambling. How it works: Opioid Antagonists (Naltrexone) enhance the the release of the neurotransmitter GABA in the mesolimbic pathway. The increased GABA activity reduces the release of dopamine in the nucleus accumbens (and ultimately pre-frontal cortex) therefore reducing urge to gamble. Some research (e.g. Kim et al) has linked this with reductions in gambling behaviour

Answer 10

**Stead et al** carried out research to support the effectiveness of nicotine replacement therapy (NRT). reviewed 150 high-quality research studies that compared the use of NRT with a placebo. found that all forms of NRT (gum, inhalers, patches) were significantly more effective in helping smokers quit than placebos and no treatment at all. Therefore, supporting drug therapy as a way of reducing addiction, as it has been found to be very effective.

Answer 11

principles of classical conditioning in order to change the pleasurable association with the addictive substance/behaviour and replace it with an unpleasant association in a vivo experience. How it works for nicotine addiction: One specific technique used is 'Rapid Smoking' Individuals will sit alone in a room taking a puff of a cigarette every 6 seconds. They will begin to feel nauseous and sick and start to associate this feeling to smoking (principles of CC). This is repeated until the individual develops an aversion to smoking, thus reducing their addiction.

Answer 12

Electric shocks have been used for some behavioural addictions such as gambling. The shocks used do not cause permanent damage, but they are meant to avert people-from gambling and therefore do cause pain (they are pre-selected by participants at the start of treatment). The addicted gambler thinks of phrases that relate to his or her gambling behaviour and write them down on cards, for example 'lottery', 'casino'. Some non-gambling behaviours are also included e.g. 'went straight home'. The participant is asked to read out each card and when they get to a gambling related phrase they are given a two second electric shock. The participant should then associate (classical conditioning) gambling with the painful shock, rather than pleasure and develop an aversion to gambling, reducing their addiction

Answer 13

client is given an aversive drug such as disulfiram (Antabuse). This interferes with the bodily process of metabolising alcohol into harmless chemicals. This means a person who drinks alcohol whilst taking disulfiram will experience severe nausea and vomiting. The aim of this is for the individual to associate the alcohol with the nausea and develop an aversion to drinking alcohol as it would cause a conditioned response of nausea, reducing their addiction.

Answer 14

AIM idea of the therapy is that the pleasurable association with the addictive substance/behaviour has to be broken down and replaced with an unpleasant association in a vitro experience. How it works for nicotine addiction: Client is encouraged to relax. Therapist then reads from a script asking the client to imagine an aversive situation. For example, the client may imagine himself or herself smoking a cigarette followed by the most unpleasant consequences e.g. the experience of vomiting, or imagine themselves smoking a cigarette covered in faeces. The more vivid the imaginary scene is the better the treatment works. Therefore, the therapist will go into graphic detail about certain elements of the scene (smells, sounds, physical movements). Towards the end of the session, the client imagines turning their back on the addiction and experience the resulting feelings of relief. The participant should then associate the addiction with the unpleasant scenario, rather than pleasure, reducing their addiction.

Answer 15

**McConaghy et al** carried out research to support the effectiveness of behavioural interventions at reducing gambling addiction. They compared electric shock aversion therapy with covert sensitisation in treating gambling addiction. It was found that in a one year follow up; those who had received covert sensitisation were significantly more likely to have reduced their gambling activities (90% covert sensitisation compared to 30% aversion therapy). Therefore, suggesting covert sensitisation is more effective behavioural intervention for treating gambling addiction compared to aversion therapy.

Answer 16

Aim: To identify and challenge maladaptive thinking that are causing an addiction and replace with more adaptive ways of thinking and coping behaviours to deal with high risk situations which might trigger relapse. **COGNITIVE** 1) functional analysis - a therapist will ask the client to identify the high-risk situations in which the client is likely to engage in their addictive behaviour e.g. walking past a betting shop. • They are asked to report what they would be thinking before, during and after the situation. This helps the therapist to identify any cognitive biases and then work with the client to challenge the faulty thinking. 2) Cognitive restructuring - after analysis, cognitive restructuring (disputing) is used to change irrational/maladaptive thoughts to rational/adaptive ones. • For example, if a person had an addiction to gambling, they may have irrational beliefs that they win more than they lose (selective recall), this could be challenged via empirical disputing for example, the therapist could ask 'where is the evidence that, you win more than you lose?' **BEHAVIOURAL** 3) Skills training- the addicted person will be taught social skills to help them cope with situations which lead to addictive behaviour for example, teaching the client ways to refuse the addictive behaviour without causing embarrassment. • The therapist teaches the client these skills and the client will practice these through role play before implementing them in real life situations. • the client would be taught avoidance strategies, where the client would learn to avoid situations that are likely to produce addictive behaviours (high risk situations identified in functional analysis) i.e. driving a different way home to avoid driving past a betting shop. 4) Homework - The patient practices these social skills within the real world on their own and reports back to their therapist until they feel confident within social situations, where their addictive behaviour/substance is available. • This leads to relapse prevention.

Answer 17

**Perty et al** randomly allocated gamblers to a control group who received Gamblers Anonymous (GA) meetings or a treatment condition who received GA meetings and an eight-session CBT programme. found that the patients in the treatment condition were gambling significantly less than the control group of patients. Therefore, demonstrating the effectiveness of CBT in reducing addictions such as gambling.