![]() ![]() It might also occur simply through practice and the passage of time. This may occur through specific types of therapy, such as cue exposure therapy. Because most people in recovery cannot realistically eliminate every cue associated with their addiction, it becomes critical to reduce the power of these cues. With repeated cue exposure, and without engaging in addictive behavior, these cues lose the power to induce craving. The "cues" associated with addiction (the sights, smells, locations, people, etc.) are understood as conditional stimuli. He is not doomed to ride public transportation for the rest of his life!Ĭue exposure therapy is one type of addiction treatment that relies on classical conditioning. If this person repeatedly gets into his car after work, and does not smoke marijuana, his cravings will eventually subside. Let's return to our previous example of a person who smokes marijuana in a car after work. Eventually the bell will no longer elicit salivation. Research has demonstrated that if we ring the bell many times, without food, the paired association ends. Therapists are Standing By to Treat Your Depression, Anxiety or Other Mental Health Needsįortunately, this learning principle has some helpful recovery implications. This is the same for the addict and the car. Remember how Pavlov's dogs began to salivate at the sound of the bell? We could say the bell created a craving for food. Once the car has become a conditioned stimulus (a cue), the car itself can now trigger powerful cravings. Thus, the car signals marijuana is on its way, just as the bell signaled to Pavlov's dogs that food was coming. The car and marijuana form a paired association. ![]() For instance, suppose someone always smokes marijuana in the car on the way home from work. These cues can result in a relapse because the brain linked the cues and the addiction. Food was on its way! Likewise, certain cues (also called relapse triggers) have a powerful effect on addicted persons. So what do dogs and bells have to do with addiction? Recall that in Pavlov's experiment, the bell served as a cue to the dogs. Eventually both the food and the bell elicited the same response, i.e., salivation. They learned! This learning occurred because of the paired association between an unconditioned stimulus (food) and a conditioned stimulus (a bell). The dogs had been conditioned that the bell meant food is on its way. Eventually, Pavlov's dogs began to salivate at the mere sound of the bell, even when Pavlov did not present the food. Pavlov formed a paired association between an unconditioned stimulus (dog food) and a conditioned stimulus (a bell). This is because the dogs learned (they were conditioned) that when the bell rang, food would arrive. Unlike food, which is an unconditioned stimulus, the bell became a conditioned stimulus. We could say he paired a bell with the arrival of food. In one of Pavlov's experiments, he rang a bell every time he fed some dogs. Now we come to the learning part of classical conditioning (a bit more complicated). ![]()
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