The  manifestation of this allostatic state

The  manifestation of this allostatic state as compulsive drug taking  and loss of control over drug-taking is hypothesized  to be expressed through activation of brain circuits involved  in compulsive behavior such as the cortico-striatal-thalamic  loop. The view that addiction is the pathology that results  from an allostatic mechanism using the circuits established  for natural rewards provides a realistic approach to  identifying the neurobiological factors that produce  vulnerability to addiction and relapse …

Drug addiction is not a static phenomenon, and as with  other biobehavioral dysregulation, such as compulsive  gambling and binge eating, there are different components  that constitute a cycle or circle of ever-growing  pathology (Baumeister et al. 1994). Derived from social  psychology and conceptualized as sources of self-regulation  failures, the addiction cycle has been described as  having three components: preoccupation-anticipation,  binge-intoxication, and withdrawal-negative affect (Koob  and Le Moal 1997). Spiralling distress describes how, in  some cases, the first self-regulation failure can lead to  emotional distress, which sets up a cycle of repeated  failures to self-regulate, and where each violation  brings additional negative affect (Baumeister et al.  1994). (Koob 2001, 98)

Koob, G. (2001): Drug Addiction, Dysregulation of Reward, and Allostasis. In Neuropsychopharmacology 24 (2), pp. 97–129