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Uncontrollable Events and Alcohol Drinking
Author(s) -
VOLPICELLI JOSEPH R.
Publication year - 1987
Publication title -
british journal of addiction
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 2.424
H-Index - 193
eISSN - 1360-0443
pISSN - 0952-0481
DOI - 10.1111/j.1360-0443.1987.tb01494.x
Subject(s) - learned helplessness , alcohol , affect (linguistics) , psychology , social psychology , developmental psychology , environmental health , medicine , biology , communication , biochemistry
Summary This paper presents a new model of alcohol drinking based on the observation that alcohol drinking often occurs following uncontrollable events. The psychological concepts of compensatory opponent process systems and learned helplessness give new insights into the biobehavioral response of organisms to environmental events and how these events can affect alcohol drinking. Finally by integrating these behavioral data with biochemical data which demonstrate that alcohol stimulates endorphin activity, it is proposed that organisms drink alcohol to reduce deficiencies in endorphin activity.