Psychology of addiction

Psychology as a discipline has played a major part in both addiction research and treatment. It is a key player in the multidisciplinary approach that the ‘biopsychosocial’ conceptualization demands. Applied psychology in the area of addictions can be categorized into the following broad areas: learning theory-based; psychodynamic; and transtheoretical approaches. Brief outlines of the popular models are presented in this contribution. Significant recent developments in psychology of addictions are the Dynamic Model of Relapse from the learning theory area and the PRIME theory of motivation from the transtheoretical area. Both these developments are departures from the linear two-dimensional perspective that has been characteristic of existing models, to multidimensional non-linear models, and they utilize theories such as chaos theory and catastrophe theory in the modelling process. Explanations and predictions based on these approaches are similar to those used in explaining and predicting complex phenomena such as weather patterns. Since both these developments are new they are yet to be tested in the field. The comprehensive nature of the models holds a lot of promise for the greater understanding of addiction and for the development of effective interventions.