The Precipitants of Amphetamine Addiction

Abstract

For the purposes of this paper the term ‘precipitant’ is defined as a new circumstance associated in time with the onset of the addiction. If the precipitant is merely the ‘final staw’ in a long chain of causal circumstances, no particular value can be attached to its identification. If, on the other hand, the precipitant brings into operation the background causal factors leading to addiction, it has important practical and therapeutic implications. It could be expected that this type of precipitant might persist during the addiction and its disappearance might be associated with remission of the addiction.