Addiction-as-a-kind hypothesis

Addiction-as-a-kind hypothesis

The psychiatric category of addiction has recently been broadened to include new behaviors. This has prompted critical discussion about the value of a concept that covers so many different substances and activities. Many of the debates surrounding the notion of addiction stem from different views concerning what kind of a thing addiction fundamentally is. In this essay, we put forward an accoun...

Addiction is Not a Natural Kind

I argue that addiction is not an appropriate category to support generalizations for the purposes of scientific prediction. That is, addiction is not a natural kind. I discuss the Homeostatic Property Cluster (HPC) theory of kinds, according to which members of a kind share a cluster of properties generated by a common mechanism or set of mechanisms. Leading accounts of addiction in literature ...

A neurocomputational hypothesis for nicotine addiction.

We present a hypothetical neurocomputational model that combines a set of neural circuits at the molecular, cellular, and system levels and accounts for several neurobiological and behavioral processes leading to nicotine addiction. We propose that combining changes in the nicotinic receptor response, expressed by mesolimbic dopaminergic neurons, with dopamine-gated learning in action-selection...

Addiction as a Disease

By William L. White, MA Are alcoholism and other addictions diseases? If so, what manner of diseases are they, and how can they best be treated? If not, then how can we understand and respond to such conditions? Do we need more than one organizing concept to embrace the myriad patterns of harmful alcohol and other drug (AOD) use? What personal, professional and social consequences flow out of t...

The Self-Medication Hypothesis of Drug Addiction: a Critical Evaluation