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How individuals make choices explains addiction's distinctive, non-eliminable features.
1Department of Psychology & Neuroscience, Boston College, Chestnut Hill, MA 02467, United States.
Behavioural Brain Research
|September 14, 2020
Summary
Addiction features, including high remission rates, stem from normal choice processes interacting with drug effects. These principles explain addiction
Area of Science:
- Behavioral Economics
- Addiction Science
- Psychology
Background:
- Addiction is characterized by unique features like high remission rates and specific interventions.
- Understanding the underlying principles of addiction remains a key challenge.
Purpose of the Study:
- To identify distinctive, non-eliminable features of addiction.
- To explain these features using general principles of decision-making.
Main Methods:
- Analysis of addiction's natural history, idioms, and interventions.
- Application of choice theories, including global maximizing and Herrnstein's matching law.
Main Results:
- Addiction arises from the interaction of normal choice processes and the behaviorally toxic effects of drugs.
- These choice processes explain addiction's semi-stable nature and bias towards remission.
- High remission rates, including spontaneous recovery, are consistent with the proposed model.
Conclusions:
- Addiction is not solely caused by pathological psychological processes.
- Normal decision-making principles, when interacting with drug effects, can lead to addiction.
- The proposed framework accounts for key features of addiction and its resolution.
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