The Brain Disease Model Of Addiction (BDMA)
The brain disease model of addiction (BDMA) is an approach that describes an addiction as a chronic relapsing brain disease with biological, neurological, genetic, and environmental sources of origin (Leshner, 1997). This new definition of addiction was proposed through discovery of evidence that the brain drastically changes through repeated use of addictive substances (in terms of this essay, drugs), such as altering the brain's mesolimbic pathway through constant release of dopamine (CITATION HERE), thus changing the individual’s motivational system and leading to compulsive drug use. Due to how recent the definition was posited, there has been little empirical evidence regarding new treatments, but many possible treatments have been proposed,
…show more content…
Psychologists agreeing with the BDMA argue that due to the changes in the brain from substance abuse and changes in motivational system (Ersche, Barnes, Jones, Morein-Zamir, Robbins, & Bullmore, 2011) that lead to more impulsive behaviour as people are unable to control their addiction as their neurons have been “hijacked”, indicating lack of control and compulsive behaviour stimulated through substance abuse. However, many researchers disagree with this, as it has been found that people with addictions can be responsive to treatments involving incentives; for example, (CITATION HERE FROM SEMINAR PAPER) found that when people were given the choice of whether to stay clean of drugs or serve time in jail, there was an increase in abstinence. Likewise, contingency management interventions, in which positive reinforcement is used to change behaviour, have been found to be successful in reducing rates of substance abuse (Prendergast, Podus, Finney, Greenwell, & Roll, 2006). Considering this evidence, it suggests that addiction does still contain an element of choice as these participants had the ability to choose to abstain from drug use in response to incentives, contradicting evidence for the BDMA by displaying that addiction is a disorder of the person, not the brain. Due to this, it suggests that instead of focusing treatments on changes in the brain as the BDMA
Psychologists agreeing with the BDMA argue that due to the changes in the brain from substance abuse and changes in motivational system (Ersche, Barnes, Jones, Morein-Zamir, Robbins, & Bullmore, 2011) that lead to more impulsive behaviour as people are unable to control their addiction as their neurons have been “hijacked”, indicating lack of control and compulsive behaviour stimulated through substance abuse. However, many researchers disagree with this, as it has been found that people with addictions can be responsive to treatments involving incentives; for example, (CITATION HERE FROM SEMINAR PAPER) found that when people were given the choice of whether to stay clean of drugs or serve time in jail, there was an increase in abstinence. Likewise, contingency management interventions, in which positive reinforcement is used to change behaviour, have been found to be successful in reducing rates of substance abuse (Prendergast, Podus, Finney, Greenwell, & Roll, 2006). Considering this evidence, it suggests that addiction does still contain an element of choice as these participants had the ability to choose to abstain from drug use in response to incentives, contradicting evidence for the BDMA by displaying that addiction is a disorder of the person, not the brain. Due to this, it suggests that instead of focusing treatments on changes in the brain as the BDMA