Skip to main content Accessibility help

We use cookies to distinguish you from other users and to provide you with a better experience on our websites. Close this message to accept cookies or find out how to manage your cookie settings.

Close cookie message
×
Hostname: page-component-78c5997874-94fs2 Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-18T01:18:03.719Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false

Chapter 1 - Historical and Conceptual Approaches to Addiction

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  02 November 2021

By
Ed Day  and
James Morris
Edited by
Ed Day
Get access

Summary

This chapter traces the evolution of the term ‘addiction’ over time, demonstrating how its meaning has altered in the face of social and political changes in society. The second half explores the story behind the diagnostic terminology used in clinical practice today, and describes the recent changes to the addiction section of the major classificatory systems. Addiction is conceptualised as a disorder involving a loss of the normal flexibility of human behaviour, leaving a dehumanised state of compulsive behaviour (‘overwhelming involvement’). It has acquired a variety of terminology over time, much of it inferring moral weakness. Addiction may be associated with psychoactive substances or other pleasurable behaviours and occurs on a spectrum of use and harms, which vary in severity. The term ‘dependence’ may refer to physiological aspects of addiction (tolerance or withdrawal), but is also used to define the severe end of the spectrum. Confusion around this terminology has led to it being removed from the latest version of the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual (DSM-5).

Keywords

addictiondiagnosisclassificationabusedependencediseasedisorder
Type
Chapter
Information
Seminars in Addiction Psychiatry , pp. 1 - 14
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Print publication year: 2021

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Reinarman, C. Addiction as accomplishment: The discursive construction of disease. Addiction Research and Theory. 2005; 13 (4): 307–20.Google Scholar
Room, R. The cultural framing of addiction. Janus Head. 2003; 6 (2): 221–34.Google Scholar
Oxford English Dictionary. “addiction, n.”: Oxford University Press; 2020.Google Scholar
Alexander, B. The Globalisation of Addiction: A Study in Poverty of the Spirit. Oxford: Oxford University Press; 2008.Google Scholar
Levine, H. G. The discovery of addiction: Changing conceptions of habitual drunkenness in America. Journal of Studies on Alcohol. 1978; 39 (1): 143–74.Google Scholar
Zinberg, N. E., Harding, W. M., Winkeller, M. A study of social regulatory mechanisms in controlled illicit drug users. Journal of Drug Issues. 1977; 7 (2): 117–33.Google Scholar
Fingarette, H. Heavy Drinking: The Myth of Alcoholism as a Disease. Berkeley, CA: University of California Press; 1988.Google Scholar
Davies, J. B. The Myth of Addiction. 2nd ed. Amsterdam: Harwood Academic Publishers; 1997.Google Scholar
Saunders, J. B., Peacock, A., Degenhardt, L. Alcohol use disorders in the draft ICD-11, and how they compare with DSM-5. Current Addiction Reports. 2018; 5 (2): 257–64.Google Scholar
Babor, T. F., Higgins-Biddle, J. C., Saunders, J. B., Monteiro, M. G. AUDIT: The Alcohol Use Disorder Identification Test – Guidelines for Use in Primary Health Care. Geneva: World Health Organization; 2001.Google Scholar
Paris, J. The Intelligent Clinician’s Guide to the DSM-5. New York: Oxford University Press; 2013.Google Scholar
World Health Organization. The ICD-10 Classification of Mental and Behavioural Disorders. Geneva: WHO; 1992.Google Scholar
Cooper, J. E., Kendell, R. E., Gurland, B. J. Psychiatric Diagnosis in New York and London: A Comparative Study of Mental Hospital Patients. New York: Oxford University Press; 1972.Google Scholar
Kalinowski, A, Humphreys, K. Governmental standard drink definitions and low-risk alcohol consumption guidelines in 37 countries. Addiction. 2016; 111 (7): 1293–8.Google Scholar
Department of Health. UK Chief Medical Officers’ Alcohol Guidelines Review: Summary of the Proposed New Guidelines. London: DH; 2016.Google Scholar
Dawson, D. A., Archer, L. D., Grant, B. F. Reducing alcohol-use disorders via decreased consumption: A comparison of population and high-risk strategies. Drug and Alcohol Dependence. 1996; 42 (1): 39–47.Google Scholar
O’Donnell, A., Angus, C., Hanratty, B., Hamilton, F. L., Petersen, I., Kaner, E. Impact of the introduction and withdrawal of financial incentives on the delivery of alcohol screening and brief advice in English primary health care: An interrupted time–series analysis. Addiction. 2020; 115 (1): 49–60.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
National Statistics. Health Survey for England 2018: Adult health-related behaviours: NHS Digital; 2019 [updated 3/12/2019. Available from: https://digital.nhs.uk/data-and-information/publications/statistical/health-survey-for-england/2018].Google Scholar
Li, T.-K., Hewitt, B. G., Grant, B. F. The alcohol dependence syndrome, 30 years later: A commentary. Addiction. 2007; 102 (10): 1522–30.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Edwards, G., Gross, M. M. Alcohol dependence: Provisional description of a clinical syndrome. British Medical Journal. 1976; 1: 1058–61.Google Scholar
Stockwell, T. The alcohol dependence syndrome: A legacy of continuing clinical and scientific importance. Addiction. 2015; 110 (S2): 8–11.Google Scholar
Witkiewitz, K., Hallgren, K. A., O’Sickey, A. J., Roosa, C. R., Maisto, S. A. Reproducibility and differential item functioning of the alcohol dependence syndrome construct across four alcohol treatment studies: An integrative data analysis. Drug and Alcohol Dependence. 2016; 158: 86–93.Google Scholar
Edwards, G. The Alcohol Dependence Syndrome: A concept as stimulus to enquiry. British Journal of Addiction. 1986; 81: 171–83.Google Scholar
Hasin, D. S., O’Brien, C. P., Auriacombe, M., Borges, G., Bucholz, K., Budney, A., et al. DSM-5 criteria for substance use disorders: Recommendations and rationale. American Journal of Psychiatry. 2013; 170: 834–51.Google Scholar
Agrawal, A., Heath, A. C., Lynskey, M. T. DSM-IV to DSM-5: The impact of proposed revisions on diagnosis of alcohol use disorders. Addiction. 2011; 106 (11): 1935–43.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
American Psychiatric Association. Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disordxers: Fifth Edition (DSM-5). Arlington, VA: American Psychiatric Publishing; 2013.Google Scholar
Rehm, J., Marmet, S., Anderson, P., Gual, A., Kraus, L., Nutt, D. J., et al. Defining substance use disorders: Do we really need more than heavy use? Alcohol and Alcoholism. 2013; 48 (6): 633–40.Google Scholar
Racine, E., Bell, E., Zizzo, N., Green, C. Public discourse on the biology of alcohol addiction: Implications for stigma, self-control, essentialism, and coercive policies in pregnancy. Neuroethics. 2015; 8 (2): 177–86.Google Scholar
Morris, J., Albery, I. P., Heather, N., Moss, A. C. Continuum beliefs are associated with higher problem recognition than binary beliefs among harmful drinkers without addiction experience. Addictive Behaviors. 2020; 105: 106–292.Google Scholar
Pescosolido, B. A., Martin, J. K., Long, J. S., Medina, T. R., Phelan, J. C., Link, B. G. ‘A disease like any other’? A decade of change in public reactions to schizophrenia, depression, and alcohol dependence. American Journal of Psychiatry. 2010; 167 (11): 1321–30.Google Scholar
Burnette, J. L., Forsyth, R. B., Desmarais, S. L., Hoyt, C. L. Mindsets of addiction: Implications for treatment intentions. Journal of Social and Clinical Psychology. 2019; 38 (5): 367–94.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Schomerus, G., Matschinger, H., Angermeyer, M. C. Continuum beliefs and stigmatizing attitudes towards persons with schizophrenia, depression and alcohol dependence. Psychiatry Research. 2013; 209 (3): 665–9.Google Scholar
Tikkinen, K. A. O., Leinonen, J. S., Guyatt, G. H., Ebrahim, S., Järvinen, T. L. N. What is a disease? Perspectives of the public, health professionals and legislators. BMJ Open. 2012; 2 (6): e001632.Google Scholar
Lovatt, M., Eadie, D., Meier, P. S., Li, J., Bauld, L., Hastings, G., et al. Lay epidemiology and the interpretation of low-risk drinking guidelines by adults in the United Kingdom. Addiction. 2015; 110 (12): 1912–9.Google Scholar
Parke, H., Michalska, M., Russell, A., Moss, A. C., Holdsworth, C., Ling, J., et al. Understanding drinking among midlife men in the United Kingdom: A systematic review of qualitative studies. Addictive Behaviors Reports. 2018; 8: 85–94.Google Scholar
Dawson, D. A., Grant, B. F., Stinson, F. S., Chou, P. S. Estimating the effect of help-seeking on achieving recovery from alcohol dependence. Addiction. 2006; 101 (6): 824–34.Google Scholar

Save book to Kindle

To save this book to your Kindle, first ensure coreplatform@cambridge.org is added to your Approved Personal Document E-mail List under your Personal Document Settings on the Manage Your Content and Devices page of your Amazon account. Then enter the ‘name’ part of your Kindle email address below. Find out more about saving to your Kindle.

Note you can select to save to either the @free.kindle.com or @kindle.com variations. ‘@free.kindle.com’ emails are free but can only be saved to your device when it is connected to wi-fi. ‘@kindle.com’ emails can be delivered even when you are not connected to wi-fi, but note that service fees apply.

Find out more about the Kindle Personal Document Service.

Available formats
×

Save book to Dropbox

To save content items to your account, please confirm that you agree to abide by our usage policies. If this is the first time you use this feature, you will be asked to authorise Cambridge Core to connect with your account. Find out more about saving content to Dropbox.

Available formats
×

Save book to Google Drive

To save content items to your account, please confirm that you agree to abide by our usage policies. If this is the first time you use this feature, you will be asked to authorise Cambridge Core to connect with your account. Find out more about saving content to Google Drive.

Available formats
×