Theories of Drug Addiction
Assignment: Theories of Drug Addiction
In Week 1, you learned that motivation moves you to action. At times, that action provides an end result that is pleasing. Some people are motivated to use drugs to achieve the pleasure they are seeking. A subset of drug users is motivated to maintain drug use on a regular basis. These individuals become addicted as a result of their initial motivation; therefore, theories of addiction are an integral part of the study of motivation.
Alcohol is one of several psychoactive drugs that people are motivated to use because of its immediate pleasurable effect. There are a number of theories that attempt to explain how motivation to use drugs leads to addiction. One theory is physiological and explains that there are pleasure centers in the brain that respond to psychoactive drugs. Two other theories, psychological theories, such as opponent-process theory and incentive sensitization theory, suggest that people are motivated by positive feelings they experience when ingesting a drug and the ensuing cravings for the drug. Similarly, conditioning theories posit that drugs are linked to a positive experience and that individuals become addicted in order to repeat the feeling associated with the good experience.
The use of legal psychoactive drugs such as alcohol is of concern to some employers. Addiction to alcohol may decrease effectiveness in the workplace. Additionally, individuals who are addicted to alcohol are more likely to experience health problems, demonstrate lower productivity, experience less work satisfaction and have an increased risk for depression; therefore, some employers offer Employee Assistance Programs (EAPS) to help employees overcome their addiction to alcohol.
To prepare for this assignment:
For the assignments, please review Chapter 4 (pp. 84–104) in your textbook, Motivation: Biological, Psychological, and Environmental, as well as Forman. In addition, please read Forman and Moyers (2019) and Resnicow and McMaster (2012). Pay particular attention to the sections on theories of drug addiction and motivation, as well as the interventions associated with motivational interviewing.
Think about the following scenario:
Jason had been a social drinker for many years, but in the last year has developed an addiction to alcohol. Jason works for an employer who is offering an Employee Assistance Program (EAP) to help employees who struggle with addiction. Jason is a single father who works two jobs to support his children. He gets approximately 4 hours of sleep per night, does not open up and share his thoughts or feelings easily, and finds it difficult to ask for help from friends and family, although they would like to help him. In addition, Jason does not exercise or engage in other healthy stress management techniques; however, in the past he enjoyed recreational kickball, gardening, and trivia nights at the local recreation center. Jason remains very angry that the mother of his children does not help more, but he does not share these thoughts and feelings with others. Jason perceived that increasing his drinking quieted his mind down at night so he could fall asleep, which lead to an increase in drinking. Also, he found that he worried less about his children and had less negative thoughts about himself during the time he was drinking. Furthermore, Json has found that he needs to drink alcohol to decrease the physiological side effects of not having alcohol in his system, such as trembling, sweating, anxiety, and feeling nauseous. When he drinks alcohol, these symptoms go away. You will be the in the role of the EAP counselor working with Jason to help him overcome his addiction to alcohol.
The assignment (1-2 pages):
If you were Jason’s EAP counselor, what theories of addiction and motivation do you think best provide an explanation for Jason’s addiction? Please explain the selection of your theories and tie your decision into specifics from Jason’s story and what you have learned about addiction and motivation. What motivational interviewing interventions did you learn about in the Forman and Moyers (2019) and Resnicow and McMaster (2012) articles that could be applied to the your work with Jason? Again, please tie your suggestions into the specifics of Jason’s history. Finally, how do the various motivational interviewing strategies mentioned in the Forman and Moyers (2019) and Resnicow and McMaster (2012) articles relate to theories of motivation and addiction you have learned about so far this term?
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