Rick asked: "...... Myers cites Melzack (1990) in
> a Scientific American article as saying that people don't usually become
> addicted to (or at least develop cravings for) drugs used to control
> chronic
> pain. John Graham, .....cites Fordyce (1979) in article on
> the use of the MMPI in assessing chronic pain, as suggesting "that chronic
>
> pain patients can easily become addicted to narcotics, barbituates, or
> muscle relaxants." ......... Does anyone know the real story here? "
>
I think the answer is fairly straight forward. For those pain patients (or
anyone else) who sticks to the prescribed dosages and schedules, addiction
is very rare. For those who start to double, triple, quadruple, etc. the
prescribed dosages, addiction can be rapid and severe. Of course, you can
argue that this is useless info because it essentially says that those who
become addicted become addicted (because non-addicts don't "up" their
doses). On the other hand, it's useful info because it suggests that
useful (albeit addictive) drugs can be prescribed freely as long the
patient's use is carefully monitored.
Personally, I suspect the risk of addiction is getting greater because we're
now seeing old folks on these meds and these old folks were raised in a
relatively drug free/anti-drug environment. When my (Woodstock) generation
is in line to get more and more meds (pretty soon now) I suspect that we
will be less likely to fear raising our own doses and will be more likely to
enjoy experiencing the associated side effects of these drugs. But that's
just a guess.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Edward I. Pollak, Ph.D. Office: 610-436-3151
Department of Psychology Home: 610-363-1939
West Chester University of Pennsylvania Fax: 610-436-2846
West Chester, PA 19383
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Husband, Father, Grandfather-to-be, Biopsychologist, Bluegrass Fiddler and
Herpetoculturist.
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