Therapies & Interventions for Addiction: Aversion Therapy (AQA GCSE Psychology)

Aversion therapy to treat addiction

• Aversion therapy to treat addiction works on the principles of classical conditioning 

• Classical conditioning (learning via association) works as follows:

  • A neutral stimulus is substituted for the original unconditioned stimulus to produce a conditioned response 

  • An unconditioned stimulus produces a natural, unforced response i.e. feeling hungry

  • Classical conditioning is attributed to Pavlov, working with dogs in his lab:

    • The dog is given food (unconditioned stimulus)

    • The dog salivates when it sees and smells the food (unconditioned response)

    • A bell (neutral stimulus) is sounded every time the food is presented (the pairing of neutral and unconditioned stimuli)

    • After repeated pairings of bell and food dog salivates when it hears the bell

    • The bell has become the conditioned stimulus

    • The dog salivating to the sound of the bell has become the conditioned response

• In terms of aversion therapy, classical conditioning is used to break the individual’s pleasurable association with the addictive substance and replace it with a negative association

• To try and cure alcohol addiction individuals are given an aversive drug which causes vomiting and makes them feel nauseous 

• The addicted person is then offered a drink smelling strongly of alcohol, which usually results in them vomiting almost immediately

• This aversive treatment is repeated until the individual no longer wants to drink alcohol

• With nicotine addiction the aversion therapy often involves the smoker inhaling cigarette smoke rapidly and so deeply that it makes them feel nauseous

• With gambling addiction electric shocks may be used each time a gambling-related stimulus is presented to the gambler

Aversion therapy for alcoholism

Evaluation of aversion therapy

Strengths

• As aversion therapy uses the mechanisms of classical conditioning it can be replicated and used on large samples and for a range of addictive behaviours 

• Elkins (2009) conducted two experiments using aversion therapy with alcoholic patients, the results of which were that most of them reported less desire to drink alcohol after the aversive stimulus

Weaknesses

• Aversion therapy is reductionist as it attempts to treat a complex phenomenon (addiction) using an overly simplistic approach:

  • Human beings are more complex than a simple response-to-stimulus conditioning approach suggests

  • Aversion therapy ignores a raft of other variables that contribute to addiction e.g. family life, relationships, personality, work stress etc.

• There is insufficient evidence that the effects of aversion therapy are long-lasting which limits the usefulness of the therapy as a whole