| Abstract: | ![]()
This Special Issue contains articles that highlight empirical approaches to addiction that have clear theoretical relevance as well as articles that present significant theoretical perspectives on addiction. This collection reflects the implicit assumption that types of addiction are more similar than dissimilar. The characteristics of drug exposure that promote physical dependence, the occurrence of tolerance, the associative elicitation of tolerance, the time course of relapse to drug use, the phenomenology of drug urges or cravings, the precipitants of relapse, the obsessive concern with securing and using drugs are all commonalities among addictive disorders that underscore the fact that addiction is expressed through universal motivational mechanisms and processes. Diverse addictive disorders are phenotypically similar because their motivational bases are similar; if not in particular, then in principle. The selections in this Special Issue reflect a set of assumptions that can be seen as promising areas for future research and theorizing. The first area concerns the application of traditional motivational models and concepts to addictive disorders. The second area for future research and theorizing deals with cognitive or information processing models of addiction. The third area covered in this Special Issue concerns interpersonal/social context. The final area covered in this issue deals with genetics. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved) |
