Is the concept of compulsion useful in the explanation or description of addictive behavior and experience?

Course overview

The concept of compulsion, in which addictive behavior is not a voluntary behavior, is central to the neurobiological theories that have become popular as disease theory of addiction are ubiquitous in modern definitions. The aims of this article are: (I) to describe various meanings of compulsion in the literature; (ii) to compare the part thought to be played by compulsion in addiction with its suggested role in obsessive-compulsive disorder; (iii) to critically examine the place of compulsion in influential neurobiological accounts of addiction; (iv) to summarize the empirical evidence bearing on the usefulness of the compulsion concept, evidence that seems at first sight incompatible with the notion of compulsion. This is followed by a discussion of which possible meanings of compulsion can survive an empirical test and what role they might play in understanding addiction, paying particular attention to a distinction between strong and weak senses of compulsion.