Literature Review on Addiction
Article 1: “The Neurobiology of Craving: Implications for the understanding and treatment of Addiction,” Roy A. ... In this article the author attempts to define the term addiction and to generate an understanding as to how addictions develop. ... He believes that to accomplish this, we must fully understand the nature of drug addiction by understanding how drugs interact with reinforcing pathways in the brain. According to the literature people have been trying for years to come up with a universal, widely-accepted definition for what addiction is. Although not everyone agrees, most people can accept that there are two ways to define addiction. The first is more descriptive, “identifying addiction with compulsive drug self-administration” (Wise, 1988). ... The second definition associates addiction to physiological dependence syndromes. ... The author states that psychological dependence or craving for a drug result from the memory of past positive reinforcement explaining initial addiction and why relapse after detoxification occurs. ... Wise (1988) criticizes that treating drug addiction pharmacologically, will never be effective as long as it only treats withdrawal symptoms. ... In addition pharmacological treatments often simply replace one drug addiction with another rather than really treating the initial addiction. Article 2: “Drug Addiction as a Physical Disease: The Role of Physical Dependence & Other Chronic Drug Induced Neurophysiological Changes in Compulsive Drug Self- Administration,” Michael Lyvers. This article written by Michael Lyvers (1998) is basically a literature review in which he analyzes and compares the work of other researchers. ... Like Wise (1988) the author is searching for more effective ways to treat drug addiction by gathering a greater understanding of how addictions develop and remain. ... Lyvers (1998) begins his article by discussing Abraham Wikler’s withdrawal-relief theory for opiate addiction. ... Lyver’s (1998) doesn’t argue with the fact that administration of opiates during a state of withdrawal reliefs pain and can be negatively reinforcing; however, he has found evidence out there suggesting that there is a stronger psychological component of addiction.