Compulsivity In Drug Addiction

This article explores two possible factors that can contribute to drug use and abuse vulnerability—impulsivity and novelty-seeking—as well as how they relate to compulsivity in drug addiction. The way in which the researchers accomplish this is through experiments that tested rats with phenotypes of high impulsivity, low impulsivity, high reaction to novelty-seeking, or low reaction to novelty-seeking and how these factors contributed to the self-administration of cocaine by the rats. The researchers identified three criteria of drug addiction within the rats that correspond to the DSM-IV substance dependence criteria: increased motivation to take the drug, inability to refrain from drug seeking, and maintained drug use despite averse consequences.

We discussed in lecture how there are certain experiments that cannot ethically be performed on human participants, so researchers experiment with animals (such as rats, as we saw in the Belin article). When experimenting with animals, the researchers’ goal is to find things that can be mimicked in humans, thereby finding some insight into how this may relate to humans. We spoke specifically of how animal paradigms are especially useful when learning about drug addiction. For example, a way to test drug-related behaviors, researchers may pair a drug with a certain environment while pairing a placebo in another environment. The researchers will then allow the animal to freely choose its environment, to see how much time it spends in each one and measure if it enjoys the drug and how its behavior changes as a result of this. Likewise, researchers can present a tool that allows the animal to self-administer the drug—which we saw in the Belin article—and then over time, the researchers will make it harder for the animal to self-administer, allowing them to measure how long the animal will persist in trying to get its reward. Lastly, researchers can gain insight into withdrawal-like behavior through observing the stress levels of an animal that did not receive the drug for a lengthy period after previously having sufficient exposure to that

A major theme that we have discussed at length is how impulsivity can drive compulsive drug use, a defining factor of addiction. We discussed how drug addiction is the transition from impulsivity that involves positive reinforcement to a compulsive disorder that involves negative reinforcement. In other words, an individual’s impulsivity may lead him/her to engage in drug use, which is positively reinforced from the pleasurable effects of the drug. However, once the addiction progresses, this impulsivity shifts to compulsivity in which the drug serves as negative reinforcement for extreme stress and discomfort that arises from a lack of the drug. The Belin article expands on this shift from impulsivity to compulsivity by demonstrating through experimentation on rats how impulsivity is a key component in the development of compulsive drug use.

However, an issue I have with using animal paradigms is that animals do not have the same awareness that humans do regarding drug use and abuse. Although some people may have vulnerabilities that can play a role in possible drug use, people can still be educated on the adverse effects of drug use. In certain instances, this may be enough for them to avoid engaging in drugs, whereas animals are being handed the drug with no consequences. Although the animal may become addicted and stressed due to its need to obtain the drug, it is only doing so because it