Response to Shaffer (1996): The Case for a 'Complex Systems' Conceptualisation of Addiction

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  • authors:

    Mark D. Griffiths, Michael Larkin

  • published in

    : 1998

  • summary

    : This paper responds to some of the issues raised by Shaffer's (1996) paper, Understanding the Means and Objects of Addiction. The authors agree with, and in many respects support, the assertions made by Shaffer with respect to the conceptualisation of the problem of addiction. In particular, that it is the relationship of the addicted person with the object of their behaviour that defines addiction. However, it is argued that in addition to providing an operational definition for addiction, it is important to provide an explicit framework for the development of insight into the 'synergistic nature' of the multiple factors affecting the addiction process. That is, it is necessary to account for both the commonalities and the differences found across the spectrum of addictive behaviours. It is proposed that this might be provided by a 'complex systems' approach to the field of addiction.

  • related url

    : http://www.springerlink.com/content/x274l06h74317707/

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  • type

    : article in journal

  • publisher

    : Springer Netherlands

  • is part of a publication

    : Journal of Gambling Studies

  • volume

    : 14

  • issue

    : 1

  • copyright

    : © Springer

  • original language

    : English

  • article pagination

    : start page: 73 - end page: 82

  • keywords

    : addiction , alcoholism , drug addiction , gambling , human , impulse control disorder , pathological gambling , theoretical model
  • Article entered in GambLIB database on march 6. 2008, 00:03
  • Item added by user Tina Krušnik