behavioural interventions for reducing addiction

Question 1

learning theory

Answer 1

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

Question 2

aversion therapy AO1

Answer 2

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

Question 3

covert sensitisation AO1

Answer 3

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

Question 4

strength of aversion therapies

Answer 4

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

Question 5

strength of covert sensitisation

Answer 5

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

Question 6

limit of aversion therapies

Answer 6

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

Question 7

limit 2

Answer 7

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