Classical Conditioning Addiction

Addiction is a chronic brain disease that often results in some sort of relapse. Addiction is characterized by inability to control drug use which results in problems with one’s behaviors and interpersonal relationships. This disease causes compulsive behaviors such as the need to use drugs despite the many harmful consequences that affect the addicted individual and those around him or her. Although for most people, the initial decision to use drugs is a one time lapse in judgement, the brain is easily affected by these drugs if the person decides to use these drugs multiple times. The changes that occur to the brain over time will cause the addicted person’s ability to resist the intense impulses of drugs to be altered causing the addict to often give into the temptation of these drugs. Like other chronic diseases, addiction often involves cycles of relapse and remission. Without treatment or engagement in recovery activities, addiction is progressive and can result in disability or premature death. Drug addiction is an issue that many people deal with whether they are the addict or the addict is their loved one; but with a good source of support anyone can over come the challenges and consequences of addiction.

Most people try drugs the first time because of peer pressure and not having the strength to say no, others is because they want to try new things and be cool with a certain group of kids at school. All it takes sometimes is one time, one pull, and one session for someone to get hooked to a certain drug and be an addict. Drug addiction has a deep impact on the brain that can cause the inability to learn, make good judgment, and alters vision and memory. Addiction is chronic, often relapsing brain disease that causes compulsive drug seeking and use, despite harmful consequences to the addicted individual and to those around him or her. (National Institute on Drug Abuse) The components of drug addiction are endless. They usually contain chemicals that tap into the brain’s communication system and disrupt the way nerve cells normally send, receive, and process information. The

Relapses and drug taking are both heavily influenced by similar factors such as the drugs neurochemistry, the user’s history, environment, and dose of the pharmacokinetics. After a period of abstinence or non-use the drugs reinstating is more often an initiation of more than one factor, namely; re-exposure to drug, stress, cues in the environment, priming of the drug to user. In the user’s mind, neurochemical responses are commonly induced through these factors, in that they create a craving by mimicking the drug and this in turn prevents reinstatement and desire to use the drug (McGovern, Xie, Segal, Siembab, & Drake, 2006).

Addictive substances and behaviors are becoming a growing concern in the United States. Millions of Americans are affected by addiction in some way. While these substances and behaviors are becoming a growing concern, there is always a demand for more efficacious and cost-effective treatment methods. There are many different beliefs and options about how addictions develop, how change occurs, and what treatment methods are best to use in practice. This paper aims to explore my personal theory of addiction in regards to these specific areas of addiction. A biological and social explanation for addiction is examined, various methods and conditions for change are investigated, and an integrated treatment approach of motivational interviewing,

The researchers founded the reason why drug abuse takes place and how can a psychological treatment will help people give up the drug addiction.

Addiction is thought of a biological nature that is past through genetics according to the biological theory as explained in P2. A contrasting theory of the biological theory would be the classical and operant conditioning theory, this was made by Pavlov. The basis of conditioning theories is that addiction is the end result of the reinforcement of drug use. The drug acts as a reinforcer and gains control over the user’s behavior. In contrast to the biological models of the exposure theories, these conditioning models suggest that anyone can show addictive behavior if they are given reinforcements, regardless of their genetics. The advantage of this

Wise and Koob state that addiction begins with positive reinforcement, habits, a person feels the “high” of the habit, however, then the tolerance sets in which conditions the brain for negative reinforcements and one increases the use to enjoy the habit (2014). According to the National Institute on Drug Abuse (2012), drug addiction is a chronic brain disease. This disease is complex disease that is treatable, however it is a lifetime of treatment, sending many into relapses over and over again. The Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM-5)

One way that someone could prevent a relapse is by having support from the patient’s family. In a study done by Mei Yang “Most participants (13 of 18) spoke of lacking family or social support during abstinence periods.” With this research it’s obvious that the lack of support from peers and family members has an impact on relapse. Without support from others, the patient feels as if there is no reason to stay abstinent. Even after going to a rehabilitation program Yang’s research stated “In China, relapse rates for drug use after discharge from treatment were generally above 90% after one year.” The period after being released from rehab are especially critical because this is the first time the user is out on their own making decisions. The decisions that the person makes right after leaving rehab are the most valuable and can decide how their abstinent period will go. Granted that sometimes when the user leaves rehab not being around the parents can be beneficial in ways. In a study done by Peter

Technology has allowed us to gain greater insight into the effects that these substances have on the body, and the research largely affected the ways in which I thought about addiction. The largest influencer on my opinions on addiction were the arguments originating in the research on neurobiology, with my interest focusing largely on neurotransmitters and processes such as the down-regulation of receptor sites in response to the overproduction or inhibited reuptake of certain neurotransmitters (Inaba & Cohen, 2011). To me it would make sense that these actions would encourage the user to continue using whatever substance caused the changes to happen in the first place. In their article arguing for medication-assisted therapy for inmates in the criminal justice system, Bruce and Schleifer (2008) summarized my ideas surrounding addiction: “In essence, the overwhelming physical and psychological reward that comes from heroin derails a neurobiological system designed to preserve the individual” (p. 18). Rather than being limited just to heroin, this was my opinion on all addicting psychoactive

The Cognitive Behavioral View suggests that operant conditioning may play a big role in addiction because the high produced by the substance, is what they continually seek, so they do it over and over, forming an addiction. Then, the more they abuse the substance, a tolerance occurs and they must use more and more to feel the high. The Cognitive Behavioral View also believes that those who abuse substances do it in an attempt to self-medicate when they feel tense. This is done possibly because they have not learned the correct way to de-stress without the mean of

There are many different treatments people may use to try and get away from addiction. There are medical treatments, programs, and other therapies. Some medications to treat dependence include, Methadone, buprenorphine, buprenorphine combined with naloxone, and naltrexone. They will bind to certain receptors and will block and reverse the action of the opiate. Drug addiction plays the biggest mind game. Even if your body wants to stop, it’s almost like addiction has its own voice inside your head that won’t leave you alone. Addicts are the “puppets” to addiction. There are many social and psychological factors that might stimulate your brain that will result in a relapse. Some factors may include, stress in your life and certain stressors,

Although it is true that for most people the initial decision to take drugs is voluntary, over time the changes in the brain caused by frequent drug abuse can impair a person's self-discipline and ability to make sound judgements, and at the same time create an intense impulse to take drugs. It is because of these alterations in the brain that it is so puzzling for a person to stop abusing drugs. Luckily, there are treatments that help people to neutralize addiction's powerful disruptive effects and regain control of their lives. Study shows that combining addiction treatment medications, when suitable, with behavioral therapy is the best way to ensure success for most patients. Treatment approaches that are custom-made to each patient's drug abuse patterns and any concurrent medical, psychiatric, and social problems can help achieve sustained recovery and a life without drugs.

My research paper on cognitive behavior therapy took me into many different directions, all of them were very interesting and fascinating to say the least. Cognitive Behavior therapy was initiated in the late 1950s and early 1960s by Aaron T. Beck, MD (Beck, 2011). The origin of cognitive behavior therapy stems from classical conditioning and instrumental conditioning (operant conditioning) (Craske, 2010). The topics will be on the treatment of anxiety, bipolar disorder, post-traumatic stress disorder, and depression.

It’s interesting that you brought up the Behaviorist theories as the one that supports the idea of using drug to provide personal, interpersonal, and social rewards. Recently, there was a research about the role of reinforcement in excessive drug use and how a drug could become a potent reinforcer in the user’s life. When this happens, the individual would become so obsessed with this known reinforcer to the point that it could affect the person’s personal life and work. For the first example that you provided, the individual would find happiness whenever he goes to the bar with his buddies. Overtime, drinking might become the person’s habit as he realized that drinking is a way for him to obtain the happiness he is seeking for. However, when

The other opinion on addiction is people having the choice to consume drugs. An article explains that people learn to engage in addictive behaviors, such as consuming drugs. The classical conditioning, deals with having the choice to consume drugs according to AMHC article. The learning theory states that addiction is simply a learned behavior, which basically people learn to engage in an addictive behavior. The AMHC talks about all the conditioning stages that result from addiction being a choice. The third type of learning the AMHC article talks about is social learning. Social learning is learning behaviors observed by other. For example, teens are using drugs and other teens see that behavior and want to engage in it too.