Psych - Addiction, OCD and Eating Disorders Flashcards
What is addiction?
Addiction is the repeated compulsion of an action such as substance abuse despite the knowing about the harmfulness of your actions.
What are 2 central concepts in addiction?
- Suffering/distress/tension
- Social isolation
How is distress a central concept of addiction?
These can act as distresses, therefore we introduce distress reducing behaviours. We repeat these behaviours to reduce distress and develop compulsions and thus addiction
How is social environment a central concept of addiction?
Rats and saline/cocaine experiment - rats only chose the cocaine drip when they were isolated. When in a large group, the cocaine drip was not used by rats.
Why may someone get addicted to alcohol or cigarettes?
These substances reduce distress or tension therefore we repeat using them as they become associated with stress-relieving. Also chemical component e.g. nicotine has a direct neural effect.
What is cognitive dissonance?
This is the feeling of discomfort generated when you have 2 conflicting cognitions. E.g. patient views themselves as worthless, but their partner loves them - 2 conflicting views generates anxiety.
What characterises obsessions in OCD?
Intrusive thoughts which are both distressing and involuntary
What is the purpose of compulsions in OCD?
These act to reduce/ receive the state of anxiety created through the obsessions
How does negative reinforcement relate to OCD?
Negative reinforcement is driven by distress caused by the negative thoughts. This in turn is cemented by habit formation
What are some of the symptoms of an eating disorder?
Restriction of diet
Purging
Laxative abuse
Exercise abuse
What intrinsic beliefs drive eating disorders?
There is an intrinsic societal belief that certain foods are good and certain foods are bad, which are respectively associated with weight loss (good) and weight gain (bad).
What can drive eating disorders?
Feeling of low self worth/ anxiety
What are eating disorders?
Means of reducing intense distress, especially distress caused by a lack of control.
What can low self worth or anxiety lead to?
This can be projected onto our body and make us view that low self worth in the context of our body - we begin to hate the image so try and change it through diet restriction
Explain compulsion with high calorie food
Low self worth and anxiety may lead to relief through high calorie food which provide temporary relief. Once we finish eating, the feeling of anxiety comes back so we eat more food and develop the compulsion.
Explain binge eating
This is caused by low self worth which leads to diet restriction - as a result of this we give in once and have food. This causes a feeling of failure and subsequent loss of control, facilitating eating more food and thus a cycle of binge eating
Explain the compulsion of purging
After giving in and having food following diet restriction, we get a feeling of failure so try and correct this by completely purging to provide relief. This works however we eventually must eat again, perpetuating the feeling of failure and causing the compulsion of purging
Explain the compulsion of weight loss.
Diet restriction leads to a feeling of achievement which leads to a compulsion of diet restriction ,as the feeling of achievement relieves the stress. This is facilitated by weight loss - it is a tangible measure of “success” and will lead to brain starvation and cognitive inflexibility. As a result of this, we are more likely to develop a habit from the compulsive diet restriction.
