Aversion therapy

Question 1

how does Antabuse work

Answer 1

causes disulfiram reaction. inhibits aldehyde dehydrogenase causing build up of acetaldehyde. nausea, sweating, heart palpitations. creates association.

Question 2

Niederhoffer

Answer 2

compared antabuse to placebo. self reports and screening for 90 days. antabuse patients had greater abstinence duration. double blind study. only side effect was occasional diarrhoea

Question 3

McRobbies

Answer 3

100 smokers attending stop smoking clinic. rapid smoking compared to watching video on stopping smoking. rapid smoking had significant decrease after 24 hours, 4 weeks later this was minimal. BUT could kickstart other techniques.

Question 4

Devlin

Answer 4

increase in spending on antabuse and others to treat alcoholism. NHS £1.08 million in 1998 and £2.25 million in 2008. minimal compared to the £27 billion cost linked to health, crime and lost productivity related to alcohol

Question 5

ethical issues

Answer 5

purposefully causing negative symptoms - issues with compliance so less effective. must fully understand before giving valid consent. may be pressured by family/friends.

Question 6

use with CBT

Answer 6

aversion therapy doesn’t so anything to help underlying root cause. the negative association can wear off over time. CBT used in conjunction would help addict change how they see their addiction and teach healthy coping mechanisms for when they are at risk of relapsing.