PSYC 233 Addictive Behaviors
This course provides an overview of the addictive behaviors as well as the processes and mechanisms that underlie addiction. Students will be introduced to risk factors and protective influences that act on the time course of addiction. Neuroscientific, genetic, and environmental underpinnings will be discussed. In studying the environmental underpinnings, we will study the impact that public policy, laws,and economics have on addictions. We will also consider the present state of treatment: which treatments work,which do not,and those treatments having ambiguous effects. Lastly, we will discuss the emerging class of non-substance addictive behaviors including food, Internet/gaming, and sexual compulsions. Part of this class will include students undertaking their own behavior change project to highlight the issues that people with addictions face when trying to change.