PSYb2920 Psychology of Addictions
Syllabus (Spring 2021)
When and where: Fridays 10:00–11:40 via MS Teams
Lecturer: Lukas Blinka, Ph.D. et Ph.D. (lukasblinka@gmail.com)
The course introduces understanding of addictions - excessive involvement in substance use and
other addictive behaviours. The first half of the course is about models of addictions – how various
fields of knowledge understand and conceptualize addictions (from the perspectives of
behaviourism, psychodynamics, behavioural biology, neuropsychology, evolutionary biology, etc.).
The second half of the course is about specific drugs and behaviours, both legal and illicit substances
(e.g., caffeine, alcohol, tobacco, amphetamines, opioids) and excessive behaviours (e.g., gambling,
gaming, pornography use). The course ends with discussing whether and in what conditions we can
do something with addictions and addictive behaviours (prevention, therapy, harm reduction).
EVALUATION
1) Test: At the end of the course, there will be an online test (with both open and multiplechoice
type of questions). Result of at least 60% of correct answers is needed to
successfully finish the course. Information from both presentations and compulsory
reading will be part of the test.
2) Presentation: Last two meetings will be dedicated to oral presentations. Instructions:
Work in group of 2-3 people. Choose a narrow topic related to the course subject. Find 3
empirical research articles published within last 10 years and make a presentation about
them (i.e., what research was done and how, what are the findings, what is the overall
conclusion of all chosen papers). All group members must be active. Presentation length:
10 minutes. PPT or PDF must be uploaded into the information system prior the actual
presentation.
CONTENT AND READING
1) Historical development and understanding of substance use and addiction. Moral-criminal
model of addiction. Illness-personality disorder model of addiction
Readings:
Westermayer, J. (2013) Historical understanding of addiction. In Miller, P. (Ed) Principles of
Addiction.
2) Biological basis of addiction. Addiction as a brain disease (disease model of addiction);
genetic factors in addiction; reward deficiency syndrome
Readings:
Pinel, D. (2010). Drug addiction and the brain’s reward circuits. Biopsychology. Pages 399-
410
Blume, A., Rudisill, D., Hendricks, S., Santoya, N. (2013). Diseas model. In Miller, P. (Ed)
Principles of Addiction.
Blum, K., Chen, A. L., Giordano, J., Borsten, J., Chen, T. J., Hauser, M., ... & Barh, D. (2012).
The addictive brain: all roads lead to dopamine. Journal of Psychoactive Drugs, 44(2), 134-
143.
3) Psychological basis of addiction. Addiction as learned and imitated behaviour. Addictions
as mood management. Comorbidity model of addiction
Readings:
Skewes, M., Gonzales, V. (2013). The biopsychosocial model of addiction. In In Miller, P. (Ed)
Principles of Addiction.
4) Summarizing definition of addiction. Diagnostics. DSM V; ICD 11
Readings:
Griffiths, M. (2005). A ‘components’ model of addiction within a biopsychosocial framework.
Journal of Substance Use, 10(4), 191-197.
West, K. (2013). Models of addictions. European Monitoring Centre for Drugs and Drug
Addictions. Pages 22-28.
http://www.emcdda.europa.eu/attachements.cfm/att_213861_EN_TDXD13014ENN.pdf
5) Legal drugs. Alcohol; tobacco; caffeine; prescription drugs
Readings:
Blume, A. (2004). Understanding and diagnosing substance use addiction. In Coombs R (Ed.)
Handbook of Addictive Disorders
Drug addiction and the brain’s reward circuits. In Pinel, D. (2010). Biopsychology. Page 384-
398
European Drug Report 2020: Trends and Developments (2020). European Monitoring Centre
for Drugs and Drug Addictions. https://www.emcdda.europa.eu/edr2020_en
6) Illicit drugs. Cannabis; heroin & opioids; amphetamines
Readings:
Pinel, D. (2010). Drug addiction and the brain’s reward circuits. Biopsychology. Page 384-398
European Drug Report 2020: Trends and Developments (2020). European Monitoring Centre
for Drugs and Drug Addictions. https://www.emcdda.europa.eu/edr2020_en
7) Behavioural addictions. Gambling; eating disorders; excessive working-out, Sex and
pornography; internet gaming disorder; excessive internet use/mobile phone use/use of
social networking sites; other behavioural addictions
Readings:
Grant, J. E., Potenza, M. N., Weinstein, A., & Gorelick, D. A. (2010). Introduction to behavioral
addictions. The American Journal of Drug and Alcohol Abuse, 36(5), 233-241.
Ashley, L. L., & Boehlke, K. K. (2012). Pathological gambling: A general overview. Journal of
Psychoactive Drugs, 44(1), 27-37.
de Alarcón, R., de la Iglesia, J. I., Casado, N. M., & Montejo, A. L. (2019). Online porn
addiction: What we know and what we don’t—A systematic review. Journal of clinical
medicine, 8(1), 91.
Király, O., Nagygyorgy, K., Griffiths, M., Demetrovics, Z. (2014). Problematic online gaming In
Kenneth Paul Rosenberg, Laura Curtiss Feder (eds) Behavioral addictios: Criteria, evidence,
and treatment. Academic Press
Griffiths, M.D., Kuss, D.J., Demetrovics, Z. (2014) Social networking addiction: An overview of
preliminary findings. In Kenneth Paul Rosenberg, Laura Curtiss Feder (eds) Behavioral
addictios: Criteria, evidence, and treatment. Academic Press
8) Change in addictions. Prevention. Therapy. Stages of change. Harm reduction
Readings:
Thombs, D.L. (2006). Introduction to Addictive Behaviors. Chapter 10: Conditions That
Facilitate and Inhibit Change in Addictive Behavior