A Behavioral Economic Analysis of Polydrug Abuse in Heroin Addicts

A Behavioral Economic Analysis of Polydrug Abuse in Heroin Addicts PDF Author: Nancy M. Petry
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category : Alcohol
Languages : en
Pages : 60

Book Description
Polydrug abuse is common among substance abusers, but few empirical or theoretical methods accurately characterize this phenomenon. This chapter describes a simulation paradigm that was developed to apply a behavioral economic analysis to understanding polydrug abuse. Heroin abusers 'purchased' drugs as the price of drugs or income varied. In Experiment 1, heroin price rose while prices of other drugs and income remained constant. Heroin purchases significantly decreased as heroin prices increased. As price of heroin rose, valium and cocaine purchases increased and cross-price elasticity coefficients indicated these drugs substituted for heroin. In Experiment 2, prices of both heroin and valium increased separately to determine symmetry of the substitution effect. While valium substituted for heroin, heroin purchases were independent of valium prices. Marijuana and alcohol purchases were independent of valium price, but both these drugs were weak substitutes for heroin. In Experiment 3, income rose while prices remained constant. At some changes in income, demand for heroin and cocaine was income elastic, with purchases rising in greater proportion than income. Marijuana, alcohol, and valium purchases did not vary significantly as a function of income. Choices in this simulation were reliable both between and within subjects. Moreover, drug choices in the simulation were correlated with drug use as determined by urinanalysis testing. These results are discussed in terms of the utility of a behavioral economics approach for characterizing polydrug abuse.

The Economic Analysis of Substance Use and Abuse

The Economic Analysis of Substance Use and Abuse PDF Author: Frank J. Chaloupka
Publisher: University of Chicago Press
ISBN: 0226100499
Category : Business & Economics
Languages : en
Pages : 398

Book Description
Conventional wisdom once held that the demand for addictive substances like cigarettes, alcohol, and drugs was unlike that for any other economic good and, therefore, unresponsive to traditional market forces. Recently, however, researchers from two disparate fields, economics and behavioral psychology, have found that increases in the overall price of an addictive substance can significantly reduce both the number of users and the amounts those users consume. Changes in the "full price" of addictive substances—including monetary value, time outlay, effort to obtain, and potential penalties for illegal use—yield marked variations in behavioral outcomes and demand. The Economic Analysis of Substance Use and Abuse brings these distinctive fields of study together and presents for the first time an integrated assessment of their data and results. Unique and innovative, this multidisciplinary volume will serve as an important resource in the current debates concerning alcohol and drug use and abuse and the impacts of legalizing illicit drugs.

Choice, Behavioral Economics, and Addiction

Choice, Behavioral Economics, and Addiction PDF Author: Rudolph Eugene Vuchinich
Publisher: Elsevier
ISBN: 9780080440569
Category : Computers
Languages : en
Pages : 468

Book Description
Choice, Behavioural Economics and Addiction is about the theory, data, and applied implications of choice-based models of substance use and addiction. The distinction between substance use and addiction is important, because many individuals use substances but are not also addicted to them. The behavioural economic perspective has made contributions to the analysis of both of these phenomena and, while the major focus of the book is on theories of addiction, it is necessary also to consider the behavioural economic account of substance use in order to place the theories in their proper context and provide full coverage of the contribution of behavioural economics to this field of study. The book discusses the four major theories of addiction that have been developed in the area of economic science/behavioural economics. They are: . hyperbolic discounting . melioration . relative addiction . rational addiction The main objective of the book is to popularise these ideas among addiction researchers, academics and practitioners. The specific aims are to articulate the shared and distinctive elements of these four theories, to present and discuss the latest empirical work on substance abuse and addiction that is being conducted in this area, and to articulate a range of applied implications of this body of work for clinical, public health and public policy initiatives. The book is based on an invitation-only conference entitled, Choice, Behavioural Economics and Addiction: Theory, Evidence and Applications held at the University of Alabama at Birmingham, March 30 - April 1, 2001. The conference was attended by prominent scientists and scholars, representing a range of disciplines concerned with theories of addiction and their consequences for policy and practice. The papers in the book are based on the papers given at the above conference, together with commentaries by distinguished experts and, in many cases, replies to these comments by the presenters.

Pathways of Addiction

Pathways of Addiction PDF Author: Institute of Medicine
Publisher: National Academies Press
ISBN: 0309055334
Category : Medical
Languages : en
Pages : 330

Book Description
Drug abuse persists as one of the most costly and contentious problems on the nation's agenda. Pathways of Addiction meets the need for a clear and thoughtful national research agenda that will yield the greatest benefit from today's limited resources. The committee makes its recommendations within the public health framework and incorporates diverse fields of inquiry and a range of policy positions. It examines both the demand and supply aspects of drug abuse. Pathways of Addiction offers a fact-filled, highly readable examination of drug abuse issues in the United States, describing findings and outlining research needs in the areas of behavioral and neurobiological foundations of drug abuse. The book covers the epidemiology and etiology of drug abuse and discusses several of its most troubling health and social consequences, including HIV, violence, and harm to children. Pathways of Addiction looks at the efficacy of different prevention interventions and the many advances that have been made in treatment research in the past 20 years. The book also examines drug treatment in the criminal justice setting and the effectiveness of drug treatment under managed care. The committee advocates systematic study of the laws by which the nation attempts to control drug use and identifies the research questions most germane to public policy. Pathways of Addiction provides a strategic outline for wise investment of the nation's research resources in drug abuse. This comprehensive and accessible volume will have widespread relevanceâ€"to policymakers, researchers, research administrators, foundation decisionmakers, healthcare professionals, faculty and students, and concerned individuals.

Ending Discrimination Against People with Mental and Substance Use Disorders

Ending Discrimination Against People with Mental and Substance Use Disorders PDF Author: National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine
Publisher: National Academies Press
ISBN: 0309439124
Category : Social Science
Languages : en
Pages : 171

Book Description
Estimates indicate that as many as 1 in 4 Americans will experience a mental health problem or will misuse alcohol or drugs in their lifetimes. These disorders are among the most highly stigmatized health conditions in the United States, and they remain barriers to full participation in society in areas as basic as education, housing, and employment. Improving the lives of people with mental health and substance abuse disorders has been a priority in the United States for more than 50 years. The Community Mental Health Act of 1963 is considered a major turning point in America's efforts to improve behavioral healthcare. It ushered in an era of optimism and hope and laid the groundwork for the consumer movement and new models of recovery. The consumer movement gave voice to people with mental and substance use disorders and brought their perspectives and experience into national discussions about mental health. However over the same 50-year period, positive change in American public attitudes and beliefs about mental and substance use disorders has lagged behind these advances. Stigma is a complex social phenomenon based on a relationship between an attribute and a stereotype that assigns undesirable labels, qualities, and behaviors to a person with that attribute. Labeled individuals are then socially devalued, which leads to inequality and discrimination. This report contributes to national efforts to understand and change attitudes, beliefs and behaviors that can lead to stigma and discrimination. Changing stigma in a lasting way will require coordinated efforts, which are based on the best possible evidence, supported at the national level with multiyear funding, and planned and implemented by an effective coalition of representative stakeholders. Ending Discrimination Against People with Mental and Substance Use Disorders: The Evidence for Stigma Change explores stigma and discrimination faced by individuals with mental or substance use disorders and recommends effective strategies for reducing stigma and encouraging people to seek treatment and other supportive services. It offers a set of conclusions and recommendations about successful stigma change strategies and the research needed to inform and evaluate these efforts in the United States.

Behavioral Neuroscience of Drug Addiction

Behavioral Neuroscience of Drug Addiction PDF Author: David W. Self
Publisher: Springer Science & Business Media
ISBN: 3642030017
Category : Medical
Languages : en
Pages : 392

Book Description
Drug addiction is a chronically relapsing mental illness involving severe motivational disturbances and loss of behavioral control leading to personal dev- tation. The disorder af?icts millions of people, often co-occurring with other mental illnesses with enormous social and economic costs to society. Several decades of research have established that drugs of abuse hijack the brain’s natural reward substrates, and that chronic drug use causes aberrant alterations in these rewa- processing systems. Such aberrations may be demonstrated at the cellular, neu- transmitter, and regional levels of information processing using either animal models or neuroimaging in humans following chronic drug exposure. Behaviorally, these neural aberrations manifest as exaggerated, altered or dysfunctional expr- sion of learned behavioral responses related to the pursuit of drug rewards, or to environmental factors that precipitate craving and relapse during periods of drug withdrawal. Current research efforts are aimed at understanding the associative and causal relationships between these neurobiological and behavioral events, such that treatment options will ultimately employ therapeutic amelioration of neural de?cits and restoration of normal brain processing to promote efforts to abstain from further drug use. The Behavioral Neuroscience of Drug Addiction, part of the Springer series on Current Topics in Behavioral Neurosciences, contains scholarly reviews by noted experts on multiple topics from both basic and clinical neuroscience ?elds.

Taking Care of Business

Taking Care of Business PDF Author: Bruce D. Johnson
Publisher: Free Press
ISBN:
Category : Psychology
Languages : en
Pages : 312

Book Description


The Cambridge Handbook of Substance and Behavioral Addictions

The Cambridge Handbook of Substance and Behavioral Addictions PDF Author: Steve Sussman
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
ISBN: 1108632246
Category : Psychology
Languages : en
Pages : 1413

Book Description
Written by leaders in the addictions field, 100 authors from six countries, this handbook is a thoroughly comprehensive resource. Philosophical and legal issues are addressed, while conceptual underpinnings are provided through explanations of appetitive motivation, incentive sensitization, reward deficiency, and behavioral economics theories. Major clinical and research methods are clearly mapped out (e.g. MRI, behavioral economics, interview assessments, and qualitative approaches), outlining their strengths and weaknesses, giving the reader the tools needed to guide their research and practice aims. The etiology of addiction at various levels of analysis is discussed, including neurobiology, cognition, groups, culture, and environment, which simultaneously lays out the foundations and high-level discourse to serve both novice and expert researchers and clinicians. Importantly, the volume explores the prevention and treatment of such addictions as alcohol, tobacco, novel drugs, food, gambling, sex, work, shopping, the internet, and several seldom-investigated behaviors (e.g. love, tanning, or exercise).

Pain Management and the Opioid Epidemic

Pain Management and the Opioid Epidemic PDF Author: National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine
Publisher: National Academies Press
ISBN: 0309459575
Category : Medical
Languages : en
Pages : 483

Book Description
Drug overdose, driven largely by overdose related to the use of opioids, is now the leading cause of unintentional injury death in the United States. The ongoing opioid crisis lies at the intersection of two public health challenges: reducing the burden of suffering from pain and containing the rising toll of the harms that can arise from the use of opioid medications. Chronic pain and opioid use disorder both represent complex human conditions affecting millions of Americans and causing untold disability and loss of function. In the context of the growing opioid problem, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) launched an Opioids Action Plan in early 2016. As part of this plan, the FDA asked the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine to convene a committee to update the state of the science on pain research, care, and education and to identify actions the FDA and others can take to respond to the opioid epidemic, with a particular focus on informing FDA's development of a formal method for incorporating individual and societal considerations into its risk-benefit framework for opioid approval and monitoring.

Addiction

Addiction PDF Author: Gene M. Heyman
Publisher: Harvard University Press
ISBN: 0674057279
Category : Psychology
Languages : en
Pages : 213

Book Description
In a book sure to inspire controversy, Gene Heyman argues that conventional wisdom about addictionÑthat it is a disease, a compulsion beyond conscious controlÑis wrong. Drawing on psychiatric epidemiology, addictsÕ autobiographies, treatment studies, and advances in behavioral economics, Heyman makes a powerful case that addiction is voluntary. He shows that drug use, like all choices, is influenced by preferences and goals. But just as there are successful dieters, there are successful ex-addicts. In fact, addiction is the psychiatric disorder with the highest rate of recovery. But what ends an addiction? At the heart of HeymanÕs analysis is a startling view of choice and motivation that applies to all choices, not just the choice to use drugs. The conditions that promote quitting a drug addiction include new information, cultural values, and, of course, the costs and benefits of further drug use. Most of us avoid becoming drug dependent, not because we are especially rational, but because we loathe the idea of being an addict. HeymanÕs analysis of well-established but frequently ignored research leads to unexpected insights into how we make choicesÑfrom obesity to McMansionizationÑall rooted in our deep-seated tendency to consume too much of whatever we like best. As wealth increases and technology advances, the dilemma posed by addictive drugs spreads to new products. However, this remarkable and radical book points to a solution. If drug addicts typically beat addiction, then non-addicts can learn to control their natural tendency to take too much.