Date of Award
2021
Document Type
Thesis
Degree Name
Bachelors
Department
Natural Sciences
First Advisor
Casto, Kathleen
Area of Concentration
Neuroscience
Abstract
Addiction is a pervasive public health problem, with around 20.4 million Americans struggling with some kind of addiction. Currently, our understanding of addiction is dominated by the “Brain Disease Model of Addiction” (BDMA), which posits that addiction is a chronic, relapsing brain disease resulting from the dysfunctional neurobiological changes in the brain caused by chronic drug use. I review the evidence for drug-induced neurobiological changes in the brain and provide a critique of the BDMA. I evaluate the usefulness BDMA from the perspective of the ongoing Opioid Crisis and sketch the outline of an alternative model of addiction, a trauma-informed, transdisciplinary biopsychosocial-ecological model, which better accommodates the root causes of the Opioid Crisis and addiction in general. Finally, I review potential treatment and policy consequences of this new model and future directions for addiction research.
Recommended Citation
Quadir, Alia, "ADDICTION: CRITIQUE OF THE BDMA AND DEVELOPMENT OF A TRANSDISCIPLINARY, BIOPSYCHOSOCIAL-ECOLOGICAL MODEL" (2021). Theses & ETDs. 6126.
https://digitalcommons.ncf.edu/theses_etds/6126