Chapter 22 Addiction and criminal responsibility: The law’s rejection of the disease model
Abstract The chapter first provides a positive account of the law’s general concept of the person and responsibility doctrines. It then turns to the argument against the “no choice” claim that seemingly follows from the brain disease model. The next section considers the current legal response to addiction in the United States and, to a […]
Chapter 23 One cheer for the brain disease interpretation of addiction
Abstract The brain disease interpretation of addiction has won the allegiance of national and international health organizations, the media, and clinicians, yet it remains controversial among addiction researchers. This chapter tests three brain-disease claims: (1) drug use is involuntary in those who meet the criteria for dependence, (2) drug and alcohol dependence are chronic disorders, […]
Chapter 26 Addiction treatment providers’ engagements with the brain disease model of addiction
Abstract Debates about the etiology of addiction have a long history and continue to the present day. In contemporary societies, the brain disease model of addiction (BDMA) continues to receive strong support, in particular, from US agencies such as the National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA) and the American Society of Addiction Medicine. Today, there […]
Chapter 25 In search of addiction in the brains of laboratory animals
Abstract There are currently two major competing models of addiction, the chronic brain disease model and the choice model. Though there are different versions of these two general models, the dispute has largely concentrated on the question of whether addiction is a chronic medical disease, such as, for instance, diabetes, but one that would affect […]
Chapter 24 Introduction to Section III
Abstract Section III of the book includes chapters by authors who are unsure whether or not addiction is best viewed as a brain disease. There are six chapters, each presenting different reasons for being agnostic on this question. These chapters make an important intellectual contribution to the ideas presented in the book by establishing a […]
Chapter 28 The making of the epistemic project of addiction in the brain
Abstract In this chapter the making of addiction as a matter of the brain is followed through in three empirical examples using three different theoretical approaches. Each example involves a use context for communicating the epistemic project of addiction in the brain (EPAB): out-patient treatment, mass media narratives, and scientific articles on substance use prevention […]
Chapter 31 Introduction to Section IV
Abstract In the final section of the book, we move on to a consideration of alternative perspectives on the nature of addiction - alternatives to both the brain disease and so-called moral models of addiction. Chapters include a consideration of fundamental issues about the way we frame our thinking about addiction – in essence, challenging […]
Chapter 30 The pitfalls of recycling substance use disorder criteria to diagnose behavioral addictions
Abstract While increasing academic attention has been paid to behavioral addictions (i.e., non-substance-related addictive behaviors) over the past fifteen years, new diagnoses of questionable clinical relevance have proliferated in the literature. This is mainly due to the widespread adoption of research practices that emphasize apparent symptomatic similarities with well-established substance-related addictions, thus inevitably simplifying complex […]
Chapter 29 Addiction and the meaning of disease
Abstract Is addiction a brain disease? Cards on the table: I do not know. The aim of this chapter is to clarify what it would mean for the brain disease model of addiction (BDMA) to be true, rather than to argue decisively for or against it. This requires (1) distinguishing the question of whether addiction […]
Chapter 33 Toward an ecological understanding of addiction
Abstract This chapter argues that, while social contexts have long been understood to play an important role in addiction and recovery, the mechanisms through which contexts are currently said to influence addictive behavior are invariably cast either as mere cues, ‘secondary reinforcers,’ or as diverse types of incentives and disincentives that induce addictive behavior. As […]