USE OF PSYCHOACTIVE SUBSTANCES IN A SITUATION OF SOCIAL VULNERABILITY: A BEHAVIORAL-ANALYTICAL PERSPECTIVE

• Autor(a) principal: Vasconcelos, Maria Vitória
• Data de Publicação: 2024
• Tipo de documento: Artigo
• Idioma: por
• Título da fonte: Revista Conexão Comciência
• Texto Completo: https://revistas.uece.br/index.php/conexaocomciencia/article/view/8078
• topic: Substâncias Psicoativas; Vulnerabilidade Social; Análise do Comportamento

Studies based on the philosophy of Radical Behaviorism conceive human behavior as a product of the interaction between the organism and the environment, with its behavior controlled by consequences, as well as by antecedent stimuli. One of the products of this environment that directly affects the body are psychoactive substances, defined as those capable of generating physiological and behavioral changes and immediately providing pleasant sensations to the individual (MALBERGIER and AMARAL, 2013). The article seeks to analyze, from a behavioral-analytic perspective, how the physiological, ontogenetic and cultural aspects can make the process of chemical dependency likely or not. This is a conceptual literature review study, with the aim of verifying publications on the analysis of behavior and chemical dependence. It seeks to develop the main concepts of: (1) respondent and operant behavior guided by Radical Behaviorism, aiming to better understand how the use, abuse and chemical dependence develops; (2) the behavior of taking psychoactive drugs, describing how behavior analysis understands the processes of tolerance, withdrawal syndrome and overdose; (3) the Contingency Management technique, an intervention that has been studied to reduce the consumption of psychoactive substances; and (4) the use of psychoactive drugs in the context of social vulnerability, which, in addition to the physiological aspects, must consider the aversive and reinforcing contingencies present in environmental history. From the analysis, it is concluded that through Behavior Analysis studies it is possible to understand that chemical dependence is not just for chemical substances, as many reasons are involved in this behavior. In addition, considerations regarding the method in contingency management are presented, taking into account the high cost value and the realities of access conditions to the method in vulnerable contexts.