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a variety of mood altering drugs that Raistrick et al. (1994) have argued, as did Chick (1980b), for a modified description of the condition of dependence. Raistrick and his colleagues have developed the idea of substance dependence as a psychological phenomenon departing from the bio-psycho-social description in that the features of tolerance and withdrawal are understood to be the consequences of prolonged heavy use regardless of the psychological state of the individual. They will be highly correlated with dependence in the same way that consumption itself tends to increase, though less reliably so (see Polich et al. 1981) with increasing dependence. For the purpose of elucidating the nature of a phenomenon though, the support of statistical analysis should not be confused with the definition of the phenomenon which is based in a broader theory of human behaviour. If a phenomenon is either a trigger for, or a consequence of a particular behaviour then it is not a surprise to find significant correlations between them. Chick (1980b) referred to “the snare of logical dependence between items” in the process of validating a scale, a problem that occurs between items in a scale but could equally apply to different measures of construct validity. Where simple and similar correlational analyses are used, on what grounds other than theoretical ones are we able to say that something is part of something else, is similar to something else or predicts something else?
Making the distinction between dependence and neuroadaptation is the basis for the development of the concept of substance dependence as a psychological phenomenon (Tober 1992). Tabakoff (1990) has described the preoccupation of researchers with withdrawal symptoms, perhaps because they are readily observable and measurable, to the detriment of acknowledging the continued importance of the drug effect through all stages of neuroadaptive change. The phenomena of tolerance and withdrawal are understood to be the consequence of the regular and heavy use of a substance albeit that they have powerful reinforcement potential as do the psychoactive effects of the drugs and are likely to cue the dependent behaviour. In other words, it is not the presence of tolerance and withdrawal which is a part of dependence but rather it is the behaviour, thoughts and feelings that are conditioned by them. Miller (1980) has referred to this as the cognitive interpretation of physiological events; Leventhal and Cleary (1980) have proposed a learning mechanism where certain emotional states are conditioned to the pharmacological effects and physiological consequences of substance use and it is the regulation of these emotional states which drives the drug seeking or drug taking behaviour. Solomon (1980) described a theory of addiction based upon his work with Corbit (Solomon and Corbit 1974) in which they developed the opponent process theory of acquired motivation. In this theory drug use recurs in an attempt to counteract the opponent process, the inevitable consequence of taking the drug which has the opposite hedonic
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