addiction Flashcards
what is addiction?
a disorder in which an individual takes a substance or engages in behaviours that is pleasurable.
It eventually becomes compulsive with harmful consequences. marked by physiological and/ or psychological dependence
physical dependence
can be demonstrated by the presence of unpleasant physical symptoms (withdrawal symptoms) when the person hasn’t got access to the drug.
therefore the person depends on the drug the avoid these withdrawal symptoms.
physical dependence is often accompanied with increased tolerance to the drug. meaning the user requires a higher dose to obtain the desired effect.
psychological dependence
this occurs when a drug becomes a central part of an individuals thoughts, emotions and activities.
demonstrated by a strong urge to use, despite an awareness of and harmful effects.
cravings
an intense desire to repeat the experience associated with the particular drug or activity.
tolerance
when an individuals response to a given amount of a drug is decreased.
meaning they need a bigger dose to produce the same effect
withdrawal symptoms
two phases-
acute withdrawal- begins within an hour of no drugs. and gradually resolves over a few weeks. intense physical symptoms as the body adjusts to the lack of drugs it has become used to.
post-acute withdrawal- can last for months or even years after a person stops taking the drugs. characterised by emotional and psychological turmoil.
what are the 5 risk factors
genetic vulnerability- inherited characteristics passed from parent and carried on chromosomes.
stress- a state of arousal where we believe we do not have the ability to cope with a perceived threat.
personality- patterns of thinking, feeling and behaviour that differ between individuals.
family influence- the effect that other members of out families have on our thoughts, feelings and behaviours.
peers- people who share out interest and are a similar age and social status, become influential in adolescence.
evaluation- genetic vulnerability
limitation- there are gender differences in addiction. studies show consistencies in the importance of genetic factors in male alcoholics, but no consistencies in females. suggests genetic factors less important for women than men.
+ genetic explanations of addiction is that it can explain individual differences. even if brought up in the same environment, some ppl are more lightly to develop an addiction. they have the A1 variant on dopamine receptor making them ore vulnerable.
evaluation- stress
limitation- of stress explanations of addiction is that it varies by the type of addiction. Arevalo (2008) interviewed 393 women from substance programs, found a like between stress and drug use but no link between stress and alcohol. limitation it was self report (may have underreported drug use) this would affect validity.
one strength- offers practical application. if stress= addiction then if stress can be delt with, addiction should stop. weatherman (1998) follow up study on 263 smokers who had done a program. found a strong link between p’s use of stress comping resources and their ability to abstain from relapsing.
evaluation- personality
supporting evidence for the neurotic and psychotic personality and addiction. Gossop and Eysenck (1980) researched 200 addicts from London treatment centres. they were all polydrug users with heroin being the biggest problem.
used EPQ personality test.
found a significant association between both neuroticism and psychoticism and addiction. supports personality’s link to addiction however was self report so may lack validity.
