behavioural interventions for reducing addiction Flashcards
learning theory
addiction develops through repeated presentations between the addictive activity and the pleasurable state of arousal caused by it
therefore, to treat addiction behavioural therapy is used, which is based on counterconditioning whereby the addict is taught a new association that runs counter to the original association
e.g. the addict is taught to associate an unpleasant state rather than a pleasant one with their addictive behaviour
aversion therapy AO1
this is a behavioural intervention based on classical conditioning
aversion therapy is based on the principle that when 2 stimuli are frequently presented together then they will become associated
the addictive behaviour becomes associated with an aversive outcome (e.g. vomiting or nausea)
most aversive therapies are based on the idea that the aversive outcome will have a higher contiguity and will overpower any reward that the addiction produces
- e.g. smoking produces a small nicotine-induced reward but takes several seconds to produce whilst aversive outcome
- e.g. electric shock may be either faster or stronger which will discourage the addict from repeating the smoking behaviour
in this way, the behaviour and addiction will be extinguished
covert sensitisation AO1
type of aversion therapy
it is based on classical conditioning and it is based on the principle that when 2 stimuli are frequently presented together then they will become associated
it occurs in-vitro (they are asked to imagine how it would feel)
firstly, the client is asked to relax (using relaxation techniques such as deep breathing)
the therapist then instructs the client to imagine the aversive situation
the more vivid the scene, the better
strength of aversion therapies
supporting research from
Smith and Frawley (1993)
studied 600 patients being treated through aversion therapy for alcoholism. After 12 months, 65% of patients were still resisting alcohol
this suggests aversion therapy is effective over long periods of time
strength of covert sensitisation
strong supporting research evidence from
McConaghy (1983)
compared conventional aversion therapy with covert sensitisation in treating gambling addiction
at one year follow up, those who had received covert sensitisation were more likely to have reduced gambling activities (90%) compared to aversion therapy (30%). Also reported experiencing fewer and less intense gambling cravings than aversion-treated group
this suggests that covert sensitisation is more effective at reducing gambling addiction than traditional therapy
limit of aversion therapies
there are serious ethical issues
this is because patients are subjected to psychological and physical harm which they have the right not to experience
e.g. aversion therapies which use drugs can cause extremely uncomfortable consequences e.g. nausea. Also, covert sensitisation demands the patient to imagine shameful situations e.g. smoking cigs covered in faeces
these ethical issues can lead to poor compliance with treatment and high dropout rates, which decreases the usefulness of behavioural treatments
limit 2
aversion studies suffer from methodological problems
hajek and stead (2011)
reviewed 25 studies of aversion therapy for nicotine addiction
in most studies blind procedures were not used so researchers who evaluated the outcomes of the studies knew which participants received therapy or placebo. Such inbuilt biases generally made therapy appear more effective than it actually is
this suggests results from these studies need to be treated with caution, which challenges the validity of the findings