Vulnerability to addiction

Stress
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Terms in this set (25)
Stress
combination of daily hassles and life changes which cause a state of psychological tension.
Gelckopf
Self-medication model suggests individuals may self-medicate for stress relief for example people start smoking because of it's association of having a relaxing effect.
NIDA
addiction is associated with the relieving of anxiety, people report that that they initiate an addiction to cope with the daily hassles of life.
Traumatic stress
research has found that people exposed to severe stress are more vulnerable to addictions, especially children experiencing parental loss or abuse.
Drieseen et al
found that 30% of drug addicts and 15% of alcoholics had suffered from PTSD exposure to 'trauma' wasn't enough to cue a drug issue.
Morgan et al
housed monkeys individually for four and a half years and then placed in social cages of four monkeys each. Research observed the monkeys and found that being low in social dominance is stressful. dopamine levels were low in monkeys of isolation when self-administered cocaine was made available the monkeys of isolation were more likely to get hooked.
Cleck and Blendy
Abuse leads to later stress-related psychiatric disorders such as severe anxiety and depression that in turn may lead to chemical dependancy.
Stress and relapse
Constant drug use leads to periodic dopamine highs, the body releases CRF to maintain a homeostatic state by reducing dopamine. Repetition of this puts too much pressure on the homeostatic system, so the body cues a physiological reaction raising the hedonic set point making it almost impossible for increased dopamine levels to trigger pleasure; this causes the individual to not be able to experience pleasure from normal things so is likely to relapse and take drug.
Age
The earlier a habit is started the less likely that ti will be terminated in later life.
Shram
Adolescents are most sensitive to the positive effects of nicotine and unlikely to suffer its negative effects therefore having a more addictive profile.
Fidler et alCarried out a longitudinal study of nearly 6000 adolescents. Those who had tried a cigarette by the age of 11 were twice as likely to be regular smokers by 14.Brown et alAdolescents are more influenced by peers so are more likely to conform to an 'in group' of smokers.Peer pressurepeople conform to the behaviors to be part of a desired group.Social learning theoryBandura... the modeling and imitation of individual or group behavior as a result of vicarious reinforcement.Social identity theoryAbrams and Hogg- group members adopt the norms and behavior that are central to the social identity of which the group they feel they belong.Steve sussmanpeer use of drugs was the best predictor of future drug use by others as well as emphasis on family members and their drug habits.Bullers et allongitudinal study of over 1200 adults found that peoples peer groups predicted individual drinking but also that individual drinking predicted peoples peer groups.Personalitythe idea that someone has personality traits which increases the chance of them becoming addicted to something. An addictive personality is appealing because it can explain why some people become addicted and others don'tEyesenckproposes a biologically based theory Moe likely to be addict if rate high on psychoticism, extraversion and neuroticism.Gossop and Eyesenckresearched over 200 addicts at various London treatment centres. The participants where all drug users particularly heroine. had their personalities assessed using the Eysenck personality questionnaire. They found a significant association between both neuroticism and psychoticism and addiction. The addicts scores on extraversion scales tended to be lower than average.Zuckerman'Thrill seeking' and low boredem thresholdsFrancistested 13-15 year olds using the junior EPQ and found association between psychoticism and attitudes to substance abuse. impulsivity seemed particularly important component of the personality.Belin et alplaced rats in a device where they could self-administer cocaine. One group of rats were sensation-seekers and they immediately started taking large doses. A second group were high in impulsiveness; they started with lower doses, rather than the sensation-seekers, were the ones to become addicted.Weintraub et alassessed people suffering from parkinson's disease. such individuals are treated with drugs that increase dopamine levels to help their symtpoms this increase of dopamine actually increased other addictions such as gambling and sex.Stottenberg et alquestioned 439 college volunteers about their drinking, smoking and illegal drug habits. as well as taking cheek swabs to look for the presence of the NRXN3 gene. Impulsivity was tested was tested by getting the volunteers to estimate the passage of time. Males with the gene were more than twice as likely to have alcohol problems and also scored higher on impulsivity. in contrast females seemed to be unaffected by the gene.