This page contains links to the chapter abstracts in the Uncertain section of the book: Evaluating the Brain Disease Model of Addiction.

  • 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 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 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 27 Balancing the ethical and methodological pros and cons of the BDMA
    Abstract As scientific research is always to some extent value laden, addiction research carries (ethical) implications for science, society and the individual. The brain disease model of addiction (BDMA) narrows down the kinds of questions formulated, the kinds of data produced and utilized, and the types of explanations considered satisfactory. Our chapter provides an overview […]
  • 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 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 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 […]