Title: Re:  Chronic Pain Addiction
I don't see how a "rebound effect" can be considered "addiction."

Beth Benoit
University of Massachusetts Lowell

> Beth Benoit wrote:
> Iagree that it's certainly doubtful that people become
> addicted to aspirin and ibuprofen.  
>
On Fri, 01 Oct 1999 14:12:30 -0400 "Michael J. Kane"
<[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote:
>
> I'd say it's not so doubtful.  See the following quote from
> The State, a newspaper in SC, Summer 1993:
>
> "While taking the occasional aspirin for a headache can
>   be good medicine, taking any analgesic too much can
>   promote regular headaches, researchers at St. Louis
>   University Medical Center report in a recent issue of
>   Headache Quarterly.
>
>   'It's really a paradox,' said Dr. Paul Duckro, an associate
>    professor of psychiatry. 'People who suffer from headaches
>    are typically taught to rely on medication for their pain, but
>    we've found that regular use of analgesic medication can
>    contribute to the transformation of an occasional headache
>    into the nearly constant pain of chronic, daily headache.'
>
> Note that this is not so strange when one considers
> classical conditioning mechanisms of tolerance and
> withdrawal, as in Siegel's influential research.  I regularly
> introduce my discussion of conditioned compensatory
> responses (in my Learning course) with the above quote.
>
>> Kenneth M. Steele wrote:

Mike is right, and the term for the effect with aspirin is
"rebound analgesia."  You see a similar effect with nasal
sprays, termed "rhinitis medicamentosa."

Also, for perception fans, Siegel (and Lorraine Allan) have
spent the last few years building the case that the McCollough
Effect is a classical conditioning effect. [See the Siegel &
Allan (1998) article in Psych. Bulletin.]  One reason this is an
interesting endeavor is that Richard Solomon's opponent process
model arose from his familiarity with the Hurvich & Jameson
opponent process theory of color vision.<<<

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