Neuroadaptation Theory

Neuroadaptation explains how excessive drinking or drug-taking leads to compromised social activities because of preoccupation and craving for them. It can also lead to a failure to fulfil obligations such as work, because of withdrawal symptoms (e.g. need to be sober). However, SLT can also explain diagnostic criteria of SUD. In this theory, addiction is learned by observation within a social environment. It also proposes that excessive drug use is determined by consequences of the actual drug taking. The learning element of SLT is operant conditioning whereby an individual will repeat any behaviour that leads to a reward. In this view, addiction is an effort in which a drug's effects serve a desired function. Different classes of drug exert several types of effect and the most rewarding effects will defer between individuals and their desires. With a drug like cocaine, the person will
Past history is a risk factor because children learn by observing others. If they are in a drug-user environment, they will imitate this behaviour later. The age of onset is important too because the sooner they consume drugs for example, the harder it will be to get rid of it later, because it became rooted in their behavioural patterns. Unemployment, social problems, or low self-esteem make people drink or take drugs to forget about their problems, thanks to rewarding effects. In Neuroadaptation, risk factors are less numerous. For example, one of them is the family context: disorder such as AUD or SUD (e.g. cocaine) do cluster in families (Merikangas et al.,1998). The age of onset matters, as well as drug exposure, because the sooner the drug is taken, the more likely changes will be irreversible. Also, executive function deficits, self-regulation problems, and frontal lobe dysfunctions or pathologies constitute another risk factor for drug abuse (Dawes, Tarter & Kirisci,