2013/11/29 by Hanna Pickard, Steve Pearce · 2 citations
Psychology · Medicine · #Gambling Behavior and Treatments #Substance Abuse Treatment and Outcomes
paper · doi:10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199862580.003.0009
openalex publication_date 2013/11/29 · openalex created_date 2025/10/10 · openalex updated_date 2026/07/29
Popular and neurobiological accounts of addiction tend to treat it as a form of compulsion. This contrasts with personality disorder, where most problematic behaviours are treated as voluntary. But high levels of co-morbidity, overlapping diagnostic traits, and the effectiveness of a range of comparable clinical interventions for addiction and personality disorder suggest that this difference in treatment is unjustified. Drawing on this range of clinical interventions, we argue that addiction is not a form of compulsion. Rather, the misuse of drugs and alcohol is like many of the problematic behaviours associated with personality disorder: it is typically a way of coping with psychological distress. We suggest five folk psychological factors can explain addiction: (i) strength of desire and habit; (ii) willpower; (iii) motivation; (iv) functional role; and (v) decision and resolve. We conclude by describing how clinical interventions bolster patient agency and briefly consider the relevance of our account to criminal law.