Reducing addiction : Behavioural interventions

• Aversion therapy - aims to decrease or eliminate the undesirable behaviours associated with addiction by associating them with unpleasant sensations
• Aversion therapy:

  • Aims to decrease or eliminate the undesirable behaviours associated with addiction by associating them with unpleasant sensations
  • Based on principles of classical conditioning
  • Patient engages in the behaviour while at the same time being exposed to something unpleasant
• Behavioural interventions for reducing addiction:

  • Aversion therapy
  • Covert sensitisation
• Covert sensitisation - eliminates an unwanted behaviour by creating an association between the behaviour & an imagined unpleasant stimulus
• Behavioural interventions for reducing addiction AO3:

  • ✅ Research support for aversion therapy - sample of 600 patients being treated for alcoholism using aversion therapy, after a year, 65% were abstinent
  • ❌ Ethical problems with aversion therapy - extremely uncomfortable - can lead to n increase in drop out rates
  • ✅ Support for covert sensitisation - kraft & kraft used hypnotic suggestion to associate feelings of nausea with problem behaviours (chocolate ) - claim 90% effective
  • ❌ Ignore other factors - fail to address underlying issues
• Behavioural interventions for reducing addiction AO3:

  • ✅ Research support for aversion therapy
  • ❌ Ethical problems with aversion therapy
  • ✅ Support for covert sensitisation
  • ❌ Ignores other factors