KEYNOTE ADDRESS

 

Behavioral Dependence

 

Patrick M. Beardsley

VirginiaCommonwealth University

&

Jack Bergman

HarvardMedical School

 

 

Abstract: Pharmacological state (or context) and history can direct the expression of learned behavior (e.g., state dependent learning, drug discrimination).  Additionally, abrupt drug abstinence can control the expression of learned behavior, a phenomenon that can be defined as behavioral dependence. In this presentation, examples of behavioral dependence will be described and contrasted with physical dependence.  In addition, the potential ramifications of behavioral dependence, as well as the implications for regulatory control of drugs, will be considered.

 

Patrick Beardsley is a behavioral pharmacologist whose research interests focus upon the development of medications for CNS disorders. He obtained his PhD in Experimental Psychology at the University of Minnesota in 1982, and currently is Professor of Pharmacology & Toxicology and member of the Institute for Drug and Alcohol Studies and the Center for Biomarker Research and Personalized Medicine at the Virginia Commonwealth University.

 

Jack Bergman is a CNS pharmacologist with interests in the pharmacological and contextual determinants of drug abuse and drug dependence. He obtained his Ph.D. in Pharmacological and Physiological Sciences at the University of Chicago in 1981 and, currently, is the director of the Preclinical Pharmacology laboratory in the Mailman Research Institute at McLean Hospital/Harvard Medical School.