Addictive actions

Henden, Edmund

doi:10.1080/09515089.2012.660688

Cited by 5 publications

(8 citation statements)

References 31 publications

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“… 20 Henden ( 149 ) argues that compulsive actions (which he takes addictive actions to be) are caused by habits: “an action is compulsive, not because it is caused by an irresistible desire, but because it is part of a habit the compulsive person would find extremely difficult to discontinue even if she made a sincere effort to do so” (363). He would thus seem to be another advocate of the view that the locus of self-control conflict lies in the regulation of habits.…”

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confidence: 99%

The Addict in Us all

Dill

Holton

2014

Front. Psychiatry

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In this paper, we contend that the psychology of addiction is similar to the psychology of ordinary, non-addictive temptation in important respects, and explore the ways in which these parallels can illuminate both addiction and ordinary action. The incentive salience account of addiction proposed by Robinson and Berridge (1–3) entails that addictive desires are not in their nature different from many of the desires had by non-addicts; what is different is rather the way that addictive desires are acquired, which in turn affects their strength. We examine these “incentive salience” desires, both in addicts and non-addicts, contrasting them with more cognitive desires. On this account, the self-control challenge faced by addicted agents is not different in kind from that faced by non-addicted agents – though the two may, of course, differ greatly in degree of difficulty. We explore a general model of self-control for both the addict and the non-addict, stressing that self-control may be employed at three different stages, and examining the ways in which it might be strengthened. This helps elucidate a general model of intentional action.

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confidence: 99%

The Addict in Us all

Dill

Holton

2014

Front. Psychiatry

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“…Although we cannot address this issue here (the relevant literature is voluminous), one of the authors has argued elsewhere that there are some important differences between addiction/compulsion and weakness of will. See Henden (61). …”

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confidence: 99%

“…It is consistent, therefore, with the possibility of differences between forms of compulsive behavior in terms of how difficult they are to resist, e.g., between the kinds of behavior seen in, say, OCD and in the different addictions. For more on the conceptual connection between effort expenditure and compulsivity, see Henden (61). …”

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confidence: 99%

Addiction: Choice or Compulsion?

Henden¹,

Melberg²,

Røgeberg³

2013

Front. Psychiatry

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Normative thinking about addiction has traditionally been divided between, on the one hand, a medical model which sees addiction as a disease characterized by compulsive and relapsing drug use over which the addict has little or no control and, on the other, a moral model which sees addiction as a choice characterized by voluntary behavior under the control of the addict. Proponents of the former appeal to evidence showing that regular consumption of drugs causes persistent changes in the brain structures and functions known to be involved in the motivation of behavior. On this evidence, it is often concluded that becoming addicted involves a transition from voluntary, chosen drug use to non-voluntary compulsive drug use. Against this view, proponents of the moral model provide ample evidence that addictive drug use involves voluntary chosen behavior. In this article we argue that although they are right about something, both views are mistaken. We present a third model that neither rules out the view of addictive drug use as compulsive, nor that it involves voluntary chosen behavior.

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“…Recent normative thinking about addiction has been dominated by two models, the disease (or medical) and the moral model (Foddy, 2011;Henden, 2013;Morse, 2004Morse, , 2006Schaler, 2000;Uusitalo, Salmela, & Nikkinen, 2013). The former model considers addiction as following a disease-like course with behaviors that have taken control over the person.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…First, there are the concepts derived from the common-sense phenomenology of addiction, where addiction is characterized by an overwhelming desire or craving to continue an activity, resulting in repetitive actions which appear to be compulsive, that is, out of control (Foddy, 2011;Morse, 2004). In addition, a number of mental states have been used to map laypeople's understanding of addiction: excessive appetite (Orford, 2001), strong appetite (Foddy & Savulescu, 2010), motivational conflict (Ainslie, 2001), obsessive passion (Vallerand et al, 2003), strong habit (Henden, 2013), diminished rationality (Morse, 2004(Morse, , 2006, defect of the will (Wallace, 1999), reduced autonomy (Levy, 2006), and the more general idea of addiction as a moral failure or reduced moral competence (see Morse, 2004, about the moral model).…”

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confidence: 99%

Mental States of Addiction

Rise¹,

Halkjelsvik²,

Kovač

2015

Contemporary Drug Problems

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An increasing number of studies have examined lay meanings of addiction. The purpose of this study was to explore whether a generalized conception of an addiction mind-set was evident in the beliefs of a sample of 1,062 Norwegian adults responding to an online survey. The respondents were given a rating task in the following form: “Addiction to [substance/behavior] is/represents [descriptive term].” For each of the nine different addictive behaviors (cocaine, cannabis, alcohol, gambling, smoking, amphetamine, sedatives, snus, and heroin), the respondents rated their endorsement of 11 descriptive terms (mental states): reduced self-determination, obsession, strong urge, strong appetite, strong craving, reduced moral competence, reduced rational decision making, compulsion, habit, conflicting desire, and reduced willpower. Principal components analyses identified two distinct factors for six addictive behaviors: cocaine, cannabis, alcohol, gambling, amphetamine, and heroin. The endorsement levels of the descriptive items of the two factors were consistently high. Sedatives, smoking, and snus did not fit into the two factors. Norwegian adults thus seem to ascribe to a model of an addiction mind-set comprising two distinct versions, the irresistible, involuntary (Craving-compulsion version), and the voluntary resistible dimensions of addiction (Reduced agency version).

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Addictive actions

Cited by 5 publications

References 31 publications

The Addict in Us all

The Addict in Us all

Addiction: Choice or Compulsion?

Mental States of Addiction

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