...The disease model of addiction describes an addiction as a lifelong disease that involves both biological and environmental sources of origin. The disease model originates from the traditional medical model of disease which states that an individual suffering from a disease has an illness or sickness that causes interruption, cessation, or disorder of bodily functions, systems or organs and must have identifiable signs and symptoms (Gorski, 2001). The contemporary medical model attributes addiction to changes in the brains mesolimbic system and also takes into consideration that the disease may be a result of other biological, psychological, or social entities (Disease model of addiction, 2011). Within the disease model of addiction, it is believed that a genetic predisposition to addiction exists, in addition to the occurrence of some environmental events that increase the likelihood that this predisposition will be sparked. Within the overall concept of the disease model of addiction, there are various specific disease models that concentrate on the specific areas of the disease concept. For example, the medical consequences model focuses on the many biomedical consequences of alcohol and drug use. This model simply focuses on the biological etiology and consequences of drug and alcohol consumption. The bio-psycho-social-spiritual consequences maintenance disease model is much richer than the biomedical consequences model because the concentration is on biological, psychological...
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...Gambling Addiction The Good and Bad Of The Addiction DeVry University HOSP 440 15897 - Casino Management Dr. Warren Jahn - Professor Submitted by: Michael Phillip Bunker Date: 12/30/2012 Table of Contents Introduction 3 Foundation, Facts and Statistics, and the Psychological Rationale of Gambling Addiction 4 Foundations of Gambling Addiction 4 Facts and Statistics 4 Psychological Rationale of a Gambling Addiction 6 Causes and Effects as well as Consequences Concerning Gambling Addiction 7 Causes of Gambling Addiction 7 Effects of Gambling Addiction 8 Consequences of Gambling Addiction 9 Differences and Degrees of Gambling in Demographics, Types, and Stages Concerning Gambling 10 Gambling Addiction and Gender 10 Age of the Gambling Addict 11 The Different Types of Gamblers 11 Various Stages of Gambling Addiction 12 Risk Factors and Warning Signs of Gambling Addictions 13 Risk Factors of Gambling Addiction 13 Warning Signs of Gambling Addiction 14 Diagnosis, Treatment, and Help for Gamblers, Families, and Other Loved Ones 15 Diagnosis Pertaining to Gambling Addiction 15 Treatment for the Gambling Addiction 16 Help for Families, Friends, and Other Loved Ones 16 Conclusion 17 References 19 Introduction When we come to the idea of a gambling addiction, the behavior is known to be abnormal and the uncontrollable urge to gamble is strong. Exploration of these concepts will be in the following. First, will be the...
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...Computer Game Addiction - Symptoms, Treatment, & FAQs By Dr. Brent Conrad Clinical Psychologist for TechAddiction What is computer game addiction? Computer game addiction generally refers to an excessive, unhealthy amount of playing computer games. Rather than engaging in the real world, an addicted user devotes the majority of his or her time to gaming. The addicted gamer often isolates him/herself from others, ignores more important responsibilities, and is often obsessed with obtaining higher status / rankings / achievements in his/her favorite computer game. Is computer game addiction a diagnosable disorder? According to the DSM-IV (the current manual for classifying emotional, psychological, and mental disorders), no. Although there have been calls from some mental health professionals (and parents) to recognize computer game addiction as a "real" disorder, it has not been granted official diagnostic status. As more research on the effects of excessive gaming is conducted, many believe that it is only a matter of time before computer game addiction is classified as a compulsive behavior similar to gambling addiction. What are the symptoms of computer game addiction? Because there is no official diagnosis of computer game addiction, there is obviously no universally agreed upon list of symptoms. Psychologists and other mental health professionals initially adapted the diagnostic criteria for gambling addiction and used this as a rough assessment tool...
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...will say the drug user is an addict by choice; but that may not actually be true because addiction may be a disease. By definition addiction is “the state of being enslaved to a habit or practice or to something that is psychologically or physically habit-forming” (dictionary.com). Currently, whether addiction is a choice or disease has become a highly debated topic. When individuals are addicted to a substance, chemicals in their brain are altered causing the individual to need said substance to survive daily life. This is called chemical dependency (Noble 72). When this happens, it is no longer a choice. While it may initially be a choice to start using a drug, once...
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...Effects of Video Game Addiction on the Body and Mind Ryan Wootton 7th Hour Psychology 10-22-12 Abstract For most young people, playing games on a computer, video game console, or handheld device is just a regular part of the day. Most are able to juggle the multiple demands of school, sports, work or chores, and family life. Gaming becomes an addiction when it starts to interfere with a person's relationships or their pursuit of other goals, such as good grades or being a contributing member of a sports team. Computer and video games, especially the massive multi-online role-playing games (MMORPGs) such as "World of Warcraft," allow players to behave very differently from their normal persona. A shy child can suddenly became gregarious; a passive child can become aggressive. Young people, who often feel powerless in their daily lives, suddenly have the ability to command armies, drive (and crash) cars, and wreak havoc on a virtual world with no real-life consequences. This is seductive! And when that boy or girl is already finding it a challenge in the "real world" to make friends, computer and video games offer a way to interact with others in their "virtual world," without the distress of face-to-face interactions. What Makes a Video Game “Addictive”? Most adolescents like to spend at least part of their free time playing video games. But for some, what starts out as innocent recreation can become an addiction. Soon, friends, family, school, and even personal hygiene are...
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...Online Addictions: Gaming and Social Networking COM/156 August 18 Online Addictions: Gaming and Social Networking Every year hundreds of people are victims to addiction. People around the world perform several activities like going to work, going to school, socializing (in person or online), gaming, ETC, throughout the course of their day. Some of these people become dependent to these endeavors to the point it becomes a condition that can threaten their welfare. By establishing the concept of addiction, this review will give specific data of two of the many types of addiction that currently exist. Specifically, the focus of the review is geared toward online gaming addiction and online social networking addiction. Thus, giving information pertaining to symptoms and effects these addictions cause on people. Addiction to online networking and online video gaming, impact society as a whole and especially the younger part of society. People suffering from addiction can be helped, and this help may come in the form of information to prevent harm to their life and wellbeing. While addiction comes in different types, understanding the concept of addiction is important to acknowledge the impact in society. Furthermore, it will be established the type of addictions that will be evaluated throughout the course of this review. Common knowledge teaches that addiction is a condition of dependency to a certain “drug”. According to the American Psychological Association (APA) website...
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...Addiction in Adolescence Lillie Momon Liberty University Addiction is defined as a chronic, relapsing brain disease that is characterized by compulsive drug seeking and use, despite harmful consequences. It is considered a brain disease because drugs change the brain; they change its structure and how it works. These brain changes can be long-lasting, and can lead to the harmful behaviors seen in people who abuse drugs (Drug Abuse & Addiction, 2015). Addiction is a lot like other diseases, such as heart disease. Both disrupt the normal, healthy functioning of the underlying organ, have serious harmful consequences, and are preventable and treatable, but if left untreated, can last a lifetime (Drug Abuse & Addiction, 2015). Adolescence is a period full of challenges, changes and apprehension, especially for individuals in high school facing peer pressure amongst their friends. There are times when friends and acquaintances can have an increasingly strong influence during adolescence. Drug-using peers can sway even those without risk factors to try drugs for the first time. Academic failure or poor social skills can put a child at further risk for using or becoming addicted to drugs. The internal instability, the intense conflicts, and the uncertainty as for the future make the adolescent vulnerable to a series of situations, among them the use of drugs. Several authors alert that this stage is the most critical and sensitive for the initiation of the use of psychoactive...
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...Phobias and Addictions Lisa Draxler PSY/300-GENERAL PSYCHOLOGY July 12, 2010 Carlton Bowden Abstract The purpose of this paper is to explore how phobias can be developed through classical conditioning, explore how addictions can be developed through operant conditioning, to distinguish between classical and operant conditioning, and to explain what extinction means and how it is achieved in both classical and operant conditioning. * . Phobias and Addictions are two very emotional learning difficulties. Phobias are defined as being an enduring, abnormal, and unfounded fear of a specific thing or situation that compels one to avoid it, regardless of the awareness and reassurance that it is not dangerous. Addictions are defined as conditions of being consistently or compulsively occupied with or involved in something. Classical Conditioning is defined as a process of behavior variation by which one comes to respond in a preferred manner to a previously neutral stimulus that has been repetitively presented along with an unconditioned stimulus that elicits the desired response. (Dictionary.com, 2010) Fear of heights, spiders, closed spaces (claustrophobia) and other specific or simple phobias are sometimes caused by a type of learning known as classical conditioning. (DeLuca, 2009) Precise phobias or simple phobias are thought to be caused or predisposed by genetics and/ or childhood disturbance...
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...Social Consequences of Gaming Addiction Your cell phone starts to ring and you look over to see who's calling. It's your best friend. He probably wants to hang out. After all, it is Friday night. You think about picking up the phone, but you don't. Instead, you tell yourself, "I'll call him as soon as I finish this fight.” You promise yourself that you'll call him because, even though you go to the same school and have most of the same classes, you haven't really hung out in a while. You've just been too busy. So you promise yourself, "as soon as I finish...” People who are addicted to gaming encounter situations like this all the time; situations in which they have to choose whether to interact with the real world or continue living in their virtual one. Sadly, the real world rarely wins. Social consequences are a very real part of gaming addiction. Addicted gamers spend so much time playing that their personal relationships get neglected and sometimes disappear altogether. Among addicted gamers who are married, up to 50 percent report a strain in their marriage as a result of their addiction. A quick search online for information about video game addiction yields multiple stories about detrimental, and potentially harmful, social decisions people have made because gaming takes priority above all else. One such story was about a man who installed an online gaming program onto his laptop so he could play at work, even though he knew that getting caught would mean getting...
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...adult users generally use it for business purposes while youngsters for computer games. Many people considers using computer as part of their everyday routines because it provides leisure which is a very important component in the sphere of the life. Nowadays, majority of young people spend their leisure time playing computer games, and surfing through the internet. Playing computer games have become one of the favorite time- spending of some adult and young people especially the students.This is one of the reasons why there is computer addiction. But to put it simply, addicted students uses computers to occupy their time. The concept of addiction has been very broadly extended into so-called “excessive appetite disorders” such as pathological gambling and other behaviors, including “love, sex, food, dieting, jogging, television—even religion”. But how is it related to the so-called “Computer addiction”? Why does it exist? What are its effects?...
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...Historical Analysis Paper: Internet Addiction- A Rising Issue The number of Internet users has intensely went up over the years due to the growing accessibility of the Internet. In 2009 the amount of time Americans spent online increased by over a hundred percent from 2004. China, Japan, the United States, Brazil and India are currently the countries containing the largest populations of Internet users world-wide. The countries most plagued with Internet Addiction Disorder include mainly the countries within the continent of Asia such as China and South Korea as well as Northern America, United States (Conrad). Internet addiction has become a serious problem that is progressively modifying the brain structure and function for persons addicted. Like other forms of addiction, the Internet addiction results from the excessive usage of the computer and other internet enabled technological devices which causes increased dependency. Psychological issues and Mental disorders generally tend to lead individuals towards various forms of addictions and exacerbates their illness; this can happen in the reverse chronological order as well. College students are more likely to be disposed towards Internet Addiction because of their developing minds at that stage and the increasing role the Internet plays in the academic world. Scientists are currently researching for more and more efficient treatments for this Internet Addiction Disorder or IAD, but hey must initially be able to correct...
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...Phobias and Addiction For several decades, researchers and behaviorists have tried to determine what the best way to condition behaviors might be; however, the outcomes are still vast even with all the experiments that have been performed. Classical and operant conditioning are the main forms of tests or research that is used today. By definition, classical conditioning is the process of learning through a stimulus that brings about an elicited response in which it occurs as a consequence caused by an unconditioned stimulus (Colman, 2009). Operant conditioning is the exact opposite in learning; it is the process where the frequency of a response increases as a result of rewards or reinforcement that is dependent upon the response being emitted (Colman, 2009). According to John B. Watson, classical conditioning can cause a phobia to become established due to the fear factor that is related to that phobia. Phobias are unrealistic, long-lasting intense fears of certain objects or situations (Colman, 2009). Watson believed that phobias can be learned through repeated introduction of different stimuli. He tested this theory on a little infant named Albert. Albert was not afraid of rats before the simulation was started, but after stimuli that scared him along with the association of the rat, he became fearful of the rat (Kowalski, 2011). Other phobias such as agoraphobia, which is the fear of having a panic attack in a public situation in which it would be difficult to escape, occur...
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...Drug Addiction Angela Figueroa COMM/156 May 20, 2012 Meghan Anderson Drug Addiction In society, drugs have been the downfall for many people. There are many reasons that a person may use drugs such as: peer pressure, relief of stress, increased energy, to relax, to relieve pain, to escape reality, to feel more self esteem, and for recreation ("Drug addiction and drug abuse," 2011). What is it that causes the obsession and compulsion to use drugs? Why can some people stop and others go on to become addicts? Addiction is often now defined by the continuing, compulsive nature of the drug use despite physical and/or psychological harm to the user and society ("Drug addiction and drug abuse," 2011). MRI’s have shown evidence that the brain of an addict has specific abnormalities of tissue malfunction that non-addicts do not have (About.com 2004). Drug addiction is a disease that can be defined as a disordered condition resulting from the effect of deficiency or imbalance on the body. Drug addiction can be considered almost like a cancer or virus because it takes over one’s body and can cause detrimental physical and mental effect (Antiessays.com, 2012) s. Addiction is a disease that affects not only the person taking the drugs, but also their family, friends and the community around them. Drug addiction is considered a disease by some but others view it as a lack of will power. Addiction to drugs was once viewed as a moral issue but as more research is done they are finding...
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...Addiction in Adolescence When it comes to abuse and addiction in adolescents the relationship between the two goes hand in hand. “Addiction is defined as a chronic, relapsing brain disease that is characterized by compulsive drug seeking and use, despite harmful consequences” (National Institute on Drug Abuse, 2014, p.1). Addiction can be several things, two well-known addictions are drinking and doing drug. When addiction starts to change the brain it leads to long terms affects which is usually abuse. Adolescents can and will go a little further with abuse by adding things like pill popping and smoking. “Many adolescents who abuse drugs have a history of physical, emotional, and/or sexual abuse or other trauma” (National Institute on Drug Abuse, 2014, p.2). Abuse begins when adolescents start to do things like steal and lie to friends and family members to get what it is they want. How does abuse or addiction affect the developing brain of an adolescent? Drug abuse can cause serious progressive problems within the adolescent brain.”Memory loss, ability to concentrate, motor skills and coping skills are all affected by drug and alcohol abuse. Adolescents tend to make decisions that are irrational when under influence of drugs and alcohol, they may think they are making the right decisions but they are actually they are doing more harm to themselves then they realized. For adolescents, this can be even more significant as the brain is still developing and changing and...
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...people with any type of addiction fail to recognize they have one. Most of the time is not actually about their addiction but rather their mental health problems and how much their life depends on that drug therefore, the person’s surroundings such as friends, family members, and co-workers play a role in helping this person recognize their addiction and begin the search for help. The Massachusetts Governor, , requested...
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