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Toward a model of drug relapse: an assessment of the validity of the reinstatement procedure

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Abstract

Background and rationale

The reinstatement model is widely used to study relapse to drug addiction. However, the model’s validity is open to question.

Objective

We assess the reinstatement model in terms of criterion and construct validity.

Research highlights and conclusions

We find that the reinstatement model has adequate criterion validity in the broad sense of the term, as evidenced by the fact that reinstatement in laboratory animals is induced by conditions reported to provoke relapse in humans. The model’s criterion validity in the narrower sense, as a medication screen, seems promising for relapse to heroin, nicotine, and alcohol. For relapse to cocaine, criterion validity has not yet been established primarily because clinical studies have examined medication’s effects on reductions in cocaine intake rather than relapse during abstinence. The model’s construct validity faces more substantial challenges and is yet to be established, but we argue that some of the criticisms of the model in this regard may have been overstated.

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Acknowledgments

D.E., K.P., and Y.S. receive their financial support from the Intramural Research Program of the NIH National Institute on Drug Abuse; J.S. receives her financial support from the Canadian Institutes of Health Research. We thank Roy Wise and the reviewers for critical comments on earlier versions of this paper.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Clinical Pharmacology and Therapeutics Research Branch, IRP/NIDA/NIH/DHHS, Baltimore, MD, USA

    David H. Epstein & Kenzie L. Preston

  2. Center for Studies in Behavioral Neurobiology, Department of Psychology, Concordia University, Montreal, Quebec, Canada

    Jane Stewart

  3. Behavioral Neuroscience Branch, IRP/NIDA/NIH/DHHS, Baltimore, MD, USA

    Yavin Shaham

  4. Treatment Section, Clinical Pharmacology and Therapeutics Branch, IRP/NIDA/NIH, 5500 Nathan Shock Drive, Baltimore, MD, 21224, USA

    David H. Epstein

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  1. David H. Epstein
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  2. Kenzie L. Preston
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Correspondence to David H. Epstein.

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Epstein, D.H., Preston, K.L., Stewart, J. et al. Toward a model of drug relapse: an assessment of the validity of the reinstatement procedure. Psychopharmacology 189, 1–16 (2006). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00213-006-0529-6

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