cal underpinnings in the body. The main question being tackled deals with whether addiction is a disease or a question of willpower.
In order to investigate this subject we must first define a disease. A disease is a condition of the body such that one has no control over the unfolding course of events (ie catching a cold virus). Many people, including some scientists, believe that drug addiction really doesn't exist; for them, addiction is just a question of the addict's willpower in overcoming their own body's cravings. One of the main theories behind developing strong willpower to overcome addictive tendencies comes from Roy Baumeister, who proposes that willpower develops similarly to a muscle. That is, the more one uses and taxes it, the stronger it becomes. Therefore, if you were to set more limits and goals for yourself, not eat more than a scoop of ice cream or only allowing yourself thirty minutes of television, you are more likely to be able to overcome other obstacles like breaking an addiction. In contrast, the developing current view is pointing more and more toward addiction being an un!.
controllable byproduct of the body's physical need for a substance that can take over and destroy one's life regardless of willpower.
At this point a definition of addiction and dependence is in order to further discuss addiction with relation to drug intake. There are two characteristics that are common to most clinical definitions of dependence and addiction: a compulsion to take the drug with a loss of control in limiting intake and a withdrawal syndrome that results in physical as well as motivational signs of discomfort when the drug is removed (Koob, G. et al., 1998). The concept of reinforcement or motivation (ie reward) is a crucial part of both of these characteristics. Reinforcement can be defined operationally as any event that increases the probability of an addictive response.
