Risk perception and emotional coping: a pathway for behavioural addiction?

This article summarizes current concepts of the working memory with regard to its role within emotional coping strategies. In particular, it focuses on the fact that the limited capacity of the working memory to process now-relevant information can be turned into an advantage, when the individual is...

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Bibliographic Details
Published inEuropean addiction research Vol. 20; no. 2; p. 49
Main Authors Rougemont-Bücking, Ansgar, Grivel, Jeremy
Format Journal Article
LanguageEnglish
Published Switzerland 01.01.2014
Subjects
Adaptation, Psychological
Behavior, Addictive - diagnosis
Behavior, Addictive - psychology
Emotions
Fear - psychology
Humans
Perception
Risk-Taking
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Summary:This article summarizes current concepts of the working memory with regard to its role within emotional coping strategies. In particular, it focuses on the fact that the limited capacity of the working memory to process now-relevant information can be turned into an advantage, when the individual is occupied by dealing with unpleasant emotion. Based on a phenomenon known as dual-task interference (DTI), this emotion can be chased by intense arousal due to clearly identifiable external stressors. Thus, risk perception might be used as a 'DTI inductor' that allows avoidance of unpleasant emotion. Successful mastery of risk adds a highly relevant dopaminergic component to the overall experience. The resulting mechanism of implicit learning may contribute to the development of a behavioural addiction. Besides its putative effects in the development of a behavioural addiction, the use of DTI might be of a more general interest for the clinical practice, especially in the field of psychotherapy.
ISSN:1421-9891
DOI:10.1159/000353589