Reducing Addiction- Behavioural interventions Flashcards
What are the 3 types of behavioural interventions?
- Aversion therapy
- Covert sensitisation
- CBT
What is aversion therapy based on?
- Classical conditioning
- Works on the principle of association
How does aversion therapy work?
By replacing positive associations to addictions with negative associations
How does aversion therapy work for alcohol addiction?
- Alcohol is paired with an emetic drug called Antabuse
- Causes severe vomiting and nausea when combined with alcohol
- The individual is then encouraged to drink alcohol and this process is repeated to strengthen association
What is the process of classical conditioning of aversion therapy?
Before conditioning:
Antabuse (UCS)= nausea (UCR)
Alcohol (former CS)= pleasure (former CR)
During conditioning:
Antabuse (CS) + alcohol (UCS)= nausea/vomiting (new UCR)
After conditioning:
Alcohol (new CS)= vomiting (new CR)
How does aversion therapy work for smoking addiction?
- The client must break any positive associations with smoking
- Client is required to sit in a closed room and take puffs on a cigarette every 6 seconds, which is must faster than normal
- This rapid inhalation and constant exposure to fumes leads to feelings of nausea and makes the client feel ill
- Underlying this approach is the newly formed negative feelings the smoker now associates with nicotine and develop an aversion to smoking
If the point is:
A strength of aversion therapy to reduce addiction is that there is evidence to support its effectiveness in treating addiction.
What is the evidence and link?
Evidence- Howard assessed the effectiveness of aversion therapy on treating alcoholism in 82 US alcoholic participants across 5 sessions in a 10 day treatment trial. In each session, participants were given an emetic drug and then given their preferred alcoholic drink to smell and tase. Vomiting occurred 5-8 minutes after taking the drug and participants were then instructed to drink the alcohol. This was repeated a number of times with different alcoholic drinks. Following treatment, participants’ reports of positive alcohol related expectancies had decreased substantially and their belief that they could refrain from drinking increased.
Link- This suggests that there is support for the effectiveness of aversion therapy as a treatment for alcohol addiction.
If the point is:
A weakness of aversion therapy to reduce addiction is that there are clearly ethical problems with it.
What is the explanation and link?
Explanation- This is because the individual is put through something physically distressing which would not occur in other treatments, as they are made to be sick. However, the client is already aware of this before beginning treatment and will have given their consent to partaking in it, as the long term effects are worth the discomfort throughout the sessions.
Link- This means that aversion therapy may not be an ideal treatment, particularly for vulnerable addicts for whom the negative impact of the treatment could be damaging.
If the point is:
A weakness of aversion therapy to reduce addiction is that, although it may eliminate the behaviour, it does not eliminate the underlying problem.
What is the explanation and link?
Evidence- For example, these treatments cannot change personality traits, such as neuroticism. Subsequently, they also fail to modify any genetic faults, such as the A1DRD2 genetic variant. Finally, this treatment cannot challenge and replace the faulty cognitions or reduce the sensitivity to cues associated with smoking.
Link- This means that relapse is often inevitable with aversion therapy.
If the point is:
A weakness of aversion therapy to reduce addiction is that its long term effectiveness is questionable.
What is the evidence and link?
Evidence- Siegal et al found that when a person is exposed to an environment associated with drug taking, after the completion of the therapy, some of the mental and physical changes associated with cravings are reactivated and the person may likely relapse.
Link- This means that the long term effectiveness of aversion therapy must be questioned.
What are the evaluation points for aversion therapy to reduce addiction?
+ There is evidence to support its effectiveness in treating addiction
– It has clear ethical problems
– Although they eliminate the behaviour, they do not eliminate the underlying problem
– Its long term effectiveness is questionable
What is covert sensitisation?
- A variation of aversion therapy which draws on the same principles of classical conditioning in which positive associations to addictions are replaced with negative associations
- It involves imagined negative associations between the previous conditioned stimulus and a new UCS to produce a new negative association and a new CR to the CS
If the point is:
A strength of covert sensitisation to reduce addiction is that there is evidence to support its effectiveness.
What is the evidence and link?
Evidence- McConaghy et al compared aversion therapy with covert sensitisation to treat gambling addiction. Although both were effective in removing the urge to gamble, covert sensitisation was more so. A follow up at 1 year found that 90% of those receiving covert sensitisation had reduced their gambling activity compared to only 30% of those who received aversion therapy. They also reported experiencing fewer and less intense gambling cravings.
Link- This suggests that, in the long term, covert sensitisation is a credible treatment which has been proven to help many of the clients who use it to overcome their addictions.
If the point is:
A strength of covert sensitisation to reduce addiction is that it deals with some of the ethical issues raised by aversion therapy.
What is the explanation and link?
Explanation- There are minimal issues with psychological and physical distress, as this technique is simply in vivo. As such, individuals are likely to be protected from harm, creating less of an ethical dilemma. Whereas aversion therapy, such as using antabuse to pair alcohol with nausea, have several issues, such as links to liver damage.
Link- This means that covert sensitisation can be considered a more ethical form of treatment for those suffering from a variety of addictions.
If the point is:
A weakness of covert sensitisation to reduce addiction is that, along with aversion therapy, it can be seen as limited because it only addresses the behavioural aspects of addictions and may not resolve the underlying problem.
What is the evidence and link?
Evidence- For example, these treatments cannot change personality traits such as neuroticism. Also, they fail to modify any genetic faults, such as the A1DRD2 genetic variant. These treatments also cannot challenge and replace faulty cognitions or reduce sensitivity to cues associated with smoking.
Link- This means that, whilst the addiction being treated may be addressed, the individual may simply transfer their addictive tendencies to another substance or behaviour.
