Characteristics of addictive behaviour

Question 1

define addiction

Answer 1

a condition that a person ingests a substance or engages in an activity that can be pleasurable but the continued use/act of which becomes compulsive and interferes with ordinary life responsibilites

Question 2

what is the DSM-V

Answer 2

the american manual used to define mental disorders - this includes gambling in a new category

Question 3

what did mark griffiths suggest

Answer 3

six criteria that needs to be met for behaviour to be considered addiction

Question 4

what are mark griffiths 6 criteria

Answer 4

Salience
mood modification
tolerance
withdrawal symptoms
conflict
relapse

Question 5

easier way of remembering MG 6 Criteria

Answer 5

sunday
monday
tuesday
wednesday
could
rain

Question 6

salience

Answer 6

when the addiction becomes the most important thing in the individuals life - dominates their thoughts, feelings and behaviour. even when not engaged it will preoccupy them

Question 7

what is mood modification

Answer 7

when engaging in addictive behaviour changes their mood in some way.
this might be a BUZZ or HIGH or escape from feeling numb ( self medicating)

Question 8

tolerance

Answer 8

as time goes on individual will need more of sub/behav to achieve the same effects they have built.

Question 9

withdrawal symptoms

Answer 9

if addictive behavior is stopped then the individual will experience withdrawal symptoms - this can be physical (insomnia, nausea) psychological (irritability, moodiness)

Question 10

Conflict

Answer 10

conflict with themselves, friends and family
comprimising their job or relationships at the expense of engaging in addictive behaviour

Question 11

relapse

Answer 11

even after years of not engaging in or seeming successful treatment individual has the tendency to return to addictive behaviour.

Question 12

research carried out by chinese government - internet addiction

Answer 12

they argue internet addiction affects 24 mill of its 632 mill internet user. many teenagers are sent to controversial bootcamps to try and wean them from addiction

Question 13

internet addiction - Lin et al (2012)

Answer 13

brains of people who excessively use the internet have the same abnormalities seen in those with substance addiction

Question 14

what is biological explanation 1

Answer 14

Dopamine

Question 15

Rat Box

Answer 15

1954 James Olds and Peter Milner placed an electrode in a particular region of a rats brain.
It stimulated it everytime the rat went into a certain corner of a box.
researchers found they kept going back because they found pleasure.
that region of brain known as ‘reward centre’

Question 16

where is dopamine released

Answer 16

mesolimbic pathway

Question 17

what is VTA

Answer 17

ventral tegmental area

Question 18

how is dopamine released

Answer 18

addictive behaviour/ substance trigger the release of dopamine in the VTA in brain.
This leads to sense of pleasure in NUCLEUS ACCUMBENS

Question 19

what happens after repeated use of drugs

Answer 19

affects frontal cortex

Question 20

joutsa et al (2012)

Answer 20

gambling levels raise dopamine levels

Question 21

Boileau et al (2003)

Answer 21

alcohol affects the trigger release of dopamine

Question 22

what is varenicline and what is it used for

Answer 22

drug prescribed to help those quit smoking- works by affecting dopamine release in the brain

Question 23

what is drug detrology fallacy

Answer 23

just because it drug helps a disorder does not mean it is implicated in the cause

Question 24

what did Nora Volkow suggest

Answer 24

although dopamine reward pathway is the starting point of an addiction to develop, it is the changes this causes to the frontal cortex that turn engaging in the behaviour into an addiction.

Question 25

research to support tolerance and withdrawal argument

Answer 25

volkow et al (1992)- cocaine addicts show abnormalities in frontal cortex
Bolla et al (2003) - cocaine addicts show impaired performance in tasks that use forntal cortex such as decision making
wang et al (1999) - addicts show an increase in activity in their frontal cortex when exposed again to the drugs or cues associated with their addiction.

Question 26

dopamine evaluation - not all addictive behaviour increases dopamine levels

Answer 26

not the case for all addictions. eg. Paul Stokes et al (2009) found no significant increase in dopamine levels in volunteers taking cannabis, and Karmen Yoder et al (2007) found no consistent increase in dopamine of participants who were given alcohol.
therefore not appropriate to say that dopamine explains all addictions

Question 27

dopamine evaluation- complexity of the role of dopamine

Answer 27

Vaughan Bell ( 2013) refers to dopamine as the kim Kardashian of neurotransmitters, suggesting it has become fashionable to blame dopamine for causing range of problems where in truth the brain systems involved are much more complicated than media presents.

Question 28

dopamine evaluation - methodology

Answer 28

David Nutt et al (2015) criticized the methodology used by research in this area.
samples in the studies are often small
the substance to measure is given in diff forms to participants ( nicotine inhalators rather than cigarettes)
in lab than usual environment (smoking w friends ) meaning that measured effects may not be accurate

Question 29

dopamine evaluation - use of non-human animal studies

Answer 29

studies of the frontal cortex involved non-human animals.
studies may not give true insight into how humans becomes addicted

it misses social context in which many addictions take place
cannot replicate some behavioural addictions like gambling or computer games.
LACKS GENERABILTY to humans or all types of addictions