Opiate Use, Addiction, and Relapse

Abstract

An attempt is made (l) to isolate the critical variables, and (2) to specify the behavioral processes and principles by which these variables operate to produce opiate use, addiction, and relapse. The analysis is an extension of the “differential association-reinforcement” theory, presented previously in this journal, to the drug use-addiction-relapse process. The analysis describes how positive and negative reinforcement, both physiological and social, generate opiate use. Addiction is analyzed as escape-avoidance behavior maintained principally by the nonsocial, negative reinforcement of withdrawal alleviation. Various problems in successfully extinguishing escape-avoidance behavior are seen to be responsible for the phenomenon of addiction relapse.