الفهرس | Only 14 pages are availabe for public view |
Abstract Addiction is a chronic and progressive condition associated with such symptoms as compulsion, uncontrollable craving, drug seeking behaviors and continual drug use, which brings harmful social, mental, physical, familial and economic consequences. World Health Organization (1996) defines addiction as any substance that enters an organism and causes adaptation or variation in the quality and function of the organism. Addiction symptoms as sorted out by World Health Organization (WHO) include: need for using a chemical substance the abstention from which causes abnormal physical disorders which is unbearable by the addict, tendency towards gradual increase in drug use for pleasure and comfort, physical and mental dependency on drug, and a sense of ecstasy after drug use. Human addiction is a complicated disorder process affecting about 1.2 % of population, in which cognitive factors including inability to control personal behavior against the compulsion to take the preferred substance are involved. A newly-proposed hypothesis emphasizes the role of executive dysfunctions in continuation of drug addiction. Therefore, in information processing approach a cognitive factors contribute to the drug use leads to relapse in addicts. Accordingly, from among the factors contributing to drug dependency neuropsychological factors plays a crucial role, this is because drug dependency causes damages to cognitive functions including problem solving, planning, working memory, organization, learning new material, visuospatial abilities, cognitive flexibility and retention skills. |