Phobias and Addictions

Behaviors, reactions, and emotions can be learned and influenced by classical and operant conditioning. Phobias are typically learned from the use of classical conditioning. Addiction is affected through the use of operant conditioning. Both conditioning aspects change the brain and chemicals in the brain, which in turn, affect behavior. Whether a phobia is learned by association or addiction is influenced by association, both changes the chemicals in the brain. Unlearning these conditioned responses takes more time than learning them. Extinction of the stimulus does not immediately stop the chemical reactions in the brain; this takes time.

Classical and Operant Conditioning

Classical conditioning and operant conditioning both rely on the environment. However, operant conditioning is a natural response to something in the environment; classical conditioning is a learned response to previous experiences in the environment. Outside influences can trigger a response; this is classical conditioning. Many factors can influence both classical and operant conditioning. According to Kowalski and Western (2001, p. 166), “Conditioned emotional responses lead us to approach or avoid objects, people, or situations associated with satisfaction or danger – as when an infant learns to associate feelings of warmth, security, and pleasure with his parents’ presence.” Phobias are typically developed with classical conditioning and addictions are typically developed through operant conditioning.

Phobias

A phobia toward anything is possible through classical conditioning. Common phobias include a fear of spiders, heights, snakes, or clowns. Other phobias not so common include a fear of imperfection, failure, and fear of love. These phobias can be traced back to the person’s childhood. “Several factors influence the extent to which classical conditioning will occur” (Kowalski & Western, 2001, p. 169). The time between presentation and the response, the learning history, and the person’s willingness to learn are factors that contribute to the phobia and the extent of the phobia. Recurring memories of his or her childhood fear and experiences can cause these phobias to become debilitating to one’s life.

Classical Conditioning

My husband was beaten throughout his childhood and adolescence. Punishment is typically used to stop a particular behavior from reoccurring. What my husband learned from those punishments was to stop thinking positive. He learned that no matter what he did, he was not worth anything. The physical beatings along with the mental abuse caused him to be afraid of love and loving others. He also has a strong fear of failure. Throughout his childhood he was told he was a failure, a good for nothing, amounting to nothing in life. “A conditioned stimuli that precedes an unconditional stimuli allows the organism to ‘predict’ and hence to prepare” (Kowalski & Western, 2001, p. 170). Although he fears failure, he ultimately creates his own failure by not making decisions – afraid to make a mistake. He fears love because he learned that love hurts. His parents told him that they loved him, but they beat him almost daily for reasons unknown. His childhood helped create his phobias, his fears of love and fears of failure.

Operant Conditioning and Addiction

To combat his fears of failure and fear of love, he started using alcohol and drugs to feel better. In operant conditioning, behavior is changed or modified by the consequences – similar to that of classical conditioning but eliciting a natural response. Positive consequences for a behavior increase a likelihood of its recurrence, thus reinforcing the association between behavior and the various stimuli in the environment present at the time the behavior occurred. According to Kowalski and Western (2001, p. 173-4), “Operants are behaviors that are emitted rather than elicited by the environment; the behavior precedes the environmental event that conditions future behavior.”

Addiction and the Brain

Addiction is typically genetically based. The type of addiction depends on the reward centers in the brain. Neurotransmitters in the brain are involved in many psychological processes. Dopamine, endorphins, epinephrine, norepinephrine, and serotonin are all mood regulating transmitters. When something such as abuse and phobias begin to affect a person’s life, these transmitters can become difficult to regulate. My husband turned to drugs as a way to ease the pain of abuse and deal with his phobias. Marijuana “artificially manipulates dopamine reward circuits in the brain (Wickelgren, 1997)” (Kowalski & Western, 2001, p. 326). Dopamine controls pleasure, reward, and emotional arousal; it also helps with attention. When using marijuana, my husband could increase his pleasure circuits in the brain and not think about his past abuse. Many people turn to alcohol or drugs to help ease the pain because low levels of alcohol act as a stimulant.

Reinforcers of Addiction

According to Kowalski and Western (2001, p. 324), “Alcohol also enhances the activity of dopamine and endorphins, which provide pleasurable feelings that reinforce behavior (De Witte, 1996; DiChiara et al., 1996).” The ritual of drinking or using drugs “becomes associated with the comfort of the effects” (Kowalski & Western, 2001, p. 325) of the drug. Many people may use drugs or alcohol to ease their pain and experience the positive affects; many more become addicted. As their tolerance level to the alcohol or drug increases, the person will increase the amount of drug needed to achieve the feelings of reward.

Stimulants are often used to increase the reward system in the brain; the most common form of stimulants includes caffeine, nicotine, cocaine, and amphetamines. My husband increased his drug use from nicotine, to cocaine, and then to amphetamines. When he tried methamphetamine, his mood increased and pain was completely subsided. However, his increasing use of methamphetamine increased his anxiety and fear. With too many endorphins, epinephrine, and norepinephrine in the brain the synapses overloaded and created fear, anxiety, and aggression.

Extinction

Extinction of the drugs and abuse did not subdue his fears, phobias, and pain. Although the association of prior abuse from his childhood was weakened, it was not obliterated (Kowalski & Western, 2001). His fears, phobias, and pain remain. In classical conditioning, the extinction refers to the process by which conditioned responses are weakened by the presentation of the conditioned stimuli but without the unconditional stimuli (Kowalski & Western, 2001). The effects of classical conditioning last longer than the effects of operant conditioning. When the stimulus in operant conditioning is removed, so are the positive effects, thus, leading extinction of the response. Extinction of the abuse does not lead to extinction of behavior in classical conditioning.

Behaviors can be learned in childhood, which can affect relationships in adulthood. Unlearning these behaviors, whether conscious or subconscious, takes more time than it did to learn these behaviors. To decrease the phobia or fear, classical conditioning in the opposite direction needs to occur. When treating or changing an addiction, medications or behavior that influence other positive rewards need to take the place of the addiction. The greater the time span between the learned conditioned response and the response will help overcome and change the undesired response, whether an addiction or phobia.