December 2016
If compulsive drug-seeking and drug-taking behavior are often not motivated by either the desire to obtain pleasure or by the desire to relieve withdrawal, then what motivates addictive behavior in these instances? Why do addicts compulsively seek drugs? We have attempted to address these questions by proposing the concept of “incentive-sensitization”.3,30 Tire basic thesis of the incentive-sensitization view of addiction can be summarized in four points.
A mile consists of 1760 yards, a yard is made of 3 feet and one foot includes nearly 12 inches. Likewise, any long action consists of many subactions. Besides no goal can be achieved without a sequence of steps leading to this achievement. This principle is universal for humans, mammals and reptiles. In the simplest case, we make an way to a goal – often subconsciously – consisting of some learned and automated actions. Nevertheless, nearly always we’ve to correct our activities constantly. For example, before going to work we look through the window, think about the weather and choose the clothing according to it. Possibly, we also decide what means of transportation to use. However, given the weather changes in a way that nullifies every means we know to commute to work.
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.