Stimulus control and drug dependence

Drug dependence refers to a process in which an increasing proportion of an individual's behavior is controlled by drug use vs. other maintaining events. Stimulus-control research is critical for an understanding of drug dependence because discriminative and conditioned stimuli are recognized as playing an important role in maintenance of drug use. Historically, the idea that stimuli can exert control over drug use has been conceptualized in terms of classical conditioning. Research employing the classical-conditioning model has demonstrated several interesting phenomena, but has not led to the development of effective treatment strategies. Consequently, this paper discusses the need to broaden our understanding of the role that environmental stimuli can play in the genesis, maintenance, and treatment of drug dependence. To do this, two recent experiments are reviewed that may facilitate this broadening. One experiment tested for the transfer of stimulus control over drug taking to stimuli in an equivalence class never paired with drug taking, and the other experiment examined the question of whether interoceptive (drug) stimuli can enter into equivalence relations with exteroceptive (visual) stimuli. Using the results of these two experiments as examples, the remaining discussion focuses on the role of stimulus control in the etiology and treatment of drug dependence and drug relapse. In concluding, a model is presented-based partly on the behavioral treatment of cocaine dependence-that may be more effective in eliminating stimulus control over drug use.
Drug dependence can be defined as a syndrome in which drug use is given a much higher priority than other behaviors that once had higher value (Edwards, Arif, & Hodgson, [...]