Brain Change in Addiction as Learning, Not Disease

These aims and outcomes are well intended, and they have been beneficial in some contexts, but the narrow focus of the disease model on the neurobiologic substrates of addiction has diverted attention (and research funding) from other models.¹⁰ Alternatives to the brain disease model often highlight the social and environmental factors that contribute to addiction, as well as the learning processes that translate these factors into negative outcomes.^11-15 For example, it has been shown repeatedly that adverse experiences in childhood and adolescence increase the probability of later addiction.^13,14 Also, exposure to physical, economic, or psychological trauma greatly increases susceptibility to addiction.^14-17 Learning models propose that addiction, though obviously disadvantageous, is a natural, context-sensitive response to challenging environmental contingencies, not a disease.

For more