Department of Psychology, Boston College Boston, MA, USA.
Front Psychiatry. 2013 May 6;4:31. doi: 10.3389/fpsyt.2013.00031. eCollection 2013.
Addiction's biological basis has been the focus of much research. The findings have persuaded experts and the public that drug use in addicts is compulsive. But the word "compulsive" identifies patterns of behavior, and all behavior has a biological basis, including voluntary actions. Thus, the question is not whether addiction has a biology, which it must, but whether it is sensible to say that addicts use drugs compulsively. The relevant research shows most of those who meet the American Psychiatric Association's criteria for addiction quit using illegal drugs by about age 30, that they usually quit without professional help, and that the correlates of quitting include legal concerns, economic pressures, and the desire for respect, particularly from family members. That is, the correlates of quitting are the correlates of choice not compulsion. However, addiction is, by definition, a disorder, and thereby not beneficial in the long run. This is precisely the pattern of choices predicted by quantitative choice principles, such as the matching law, melioration, and hyperbolic discounting. Although the brain disease model of addiction is perceived by many as received knowledge it is not supported by research or logic. In contrast, well established, quantitative choice principles predict both the possibility and the details of addiction.
成瘾的生物学基础一直是许多研究的焦点。这些发现使专家和公众相信，成瘾者的药物使用是强制性的。但是，“强制性”这个词描述了行为模式，而所有行为都有生物学基础，包括自愿行为。因此，问题不是成瘾是否有生物学基础（它肯定有），而是说成瘾者强制性地使用药物是否合理。相关研究表明，大多数符合美国精神病学协会成瘾标准的人在 30 岁左右就停止使用非法药物，他们通常在没有专业帮助的情况下停止使用，停止使用的相关因素包括法律问题、经济压力和对尊重的渴望，特别是来自家庭成员的尊重。也就是说，停止使用的相关因素是选择而不是强制性的相关因素。然而，成瘾症根据定义是一种障碍，从长远来看并没有好处。这正是定量选择原则（如匹配律、改善和双曲线折扣）所预测的选择模式。尽管许多人认为成瘾的大脑疾病模型是已被接受的知识，但它并没有得到研究或逻辑的支持。相比之下，经过充分证实的定量选择原则不仅预测了成瘾的可能性，还预测了成瘾的细节。
