Addiction - Biological Flashcards
Weaknesses of the biological approach to addiction?
Reductionist
Reductionism in biological approach to addiction?
Comings et al
Comings et al?
Found A1 variant of the DRD2 gene in 55% of people with autism, 50% of pathological gamblers, 48% of smokers, 42% of alcoholics and 25% of controls
Strengths of biological approach to addiction?
Individual differences
Individual differences in biological approach to addiction?
Can explain why some people develop addictions yet others who have the same environment/experiences don’t (diathesis stress model)
Biological explanation of gambling initiation?
Pathological gambling runs in families, combination of genetics and environment
Researcher on biological explanation of gambling initiation?
Black et al
Black et al?
1st degree relatives of addicts more likely to suffer with a gambling addiction than distant ones
Biological explanation of gambling maintenance?
Underactive pituitary-adrenal response to stimuli
Researcher on biological explanation of gambling maintenance?
Paris et al
Paris et al?
Pathological gamblers had no salivary cortisol (associated with pituitary-adrenal system) increase after videos of gambling or neutral stimuli
Zuckerman?
High sensation seeking = low sense of risk and positive anticipation of arousal
Biological explanation of gambling relapse?
Boredom avoidance - needs intense stimulation/excitment
Researcher on biological explanation of relapse?
Blaszcynski et al
Weaknesses of biological explanations of gambling?
Limited applications
Oversimplified
Limited applications of biological explanations of gambling?
Why are some types more addictive?
Research on limited applications of biological explanations of gambling?
Green and Zimmerman
Green and Zimmerman?
Men and women who got hooked on video gambling became compulsive in about 1 year, while other forms, e.g. horses or sports, tended to take 3 1/2+ years
Oversimplification in biological explanations of gambling?
Bonnaire et al
Bonnaire et al?
2 clinically distinct subgroups: ‘active’ who gamble for arousal and ‘passive’ who want to avoid unpleasant emotional states
Biological approach to smoking initiation (genetics)?
Family and twin studies estimate heritability to be 39-80%
Research on biological approach to smoking initiation (genetics)?
Vink et al
Vink et al (initiation)?
44% genetic and 56% environmental, 1572 Dutch twin pairs
Research on biological approach to smoking maintenance (genetics)?
Vink et al
Vink et al (maintenance)?
Dependence to smoking is 75%
Biological approach to maintenance of smoking addiction? (2)
Pre-natal exposure
Research on pre-natal exposure?
Bulka et al
Bulka et al?
Smoking during pregnancy (20+ a day) doubled the risk of their child’s addiction
Biological approach to smoking relapse (genetics)?
Xian et al
Xian et al?
54% of risk for quit failure in smoking due to heritability
Biological approach to smoking initiation (role of nicotine)?
Nicotine activates nAchRs in the brain, which release dopamine to stimulate the brain’s reward circuit
Biological approach to smoking maintenance (role of nicotine)?
Chronic exposure leads to down regulation, where they no longer smoke for the positive experience but to avoid negative ones - drug levels required to trigger the brain reward system increase
Biological approach to smoking relapse (role of nicotine)?
The brain still receives difficult-to-resist signals of imminent reward and the drug assumes more importance, so the frontal cortex becomes less effective in making decisions and judging consequences of actions
Strengths of biological approach to smoking?
Supporting research
Treatment implications
Weaknesses of biological approach to smoking?
Ignores environmental factors
Treatment implications of biological approach to smoking?
Therapists can choose the most appropriate therapy
Research on treatment implications of biological approach to smoking?
Lerman et al
Lerman et al?
Asp40 gene more likely to quit than Asn40
Supporting research for biological approach to smoking?
Thorgerisson et al
Thorgerisson et al?
Identified a specific gene variant on chromosome 15 that influenced number of cigarettes smoked per day, dependence, and risk of developing smoking related diseases - those who smoked 10+ a day were more likely to have it
Ignorance of environmental factors in biological approach to smoking?
Vink et al
Vink et al (eval)?
Initiation to smoking 56% due to environment
Support for heritability in smoking addiction?
Karcher and Finn
Karcher and Finn?
1.88x more likely to smoke if parents did
