12 December 2016

The scheme we discussed above can be well applied to analyze the alcoholic behavior. Let’s remember just one thing: the simpler an action is, the more it’s correlated with the subconscious including the reward center. It means this structure of our mind is “tuned” not only to feel long-lasting euphoria from a goal achieved nicely, but also to control responses to short actions that require instant response instead of long reasoning. In this respect, the alcohol consumption creates a vicious circle when the euphoric effect controls itself. For the time being, we leave aside purely physiological mechanisms that require special consideration. In particular, the euphoria may require an instant effect and the amount taken has its own speed of coming into the bloodstream. A person may continue drinking even after the effect is achieved and so on.

This paper presents a biopsychological theory of drug addiction, the ‘Incentive-Sensitization Theory’. The theory addresses three fundamental questions. The first is: why do addicts crave drugs? That is, what is the psychological and neurobiological basis of drug craving? The second is: why does drug craving persist even after long periods of abstinence? The third is whether ‘wanting’ drugs (drug craving) is attributable to ‘liking’ drugs (to the subjective pleasurable effects of drugs)? The theory posits the following. (1) Addictive drugs share the ability to enhance mes~~tetencephalic dopamine neurotransmission.