title: Is self-organized criticality relevant to alcoholism?
abstract: The concept of self-organized criticality suggests that large interactive (dynamic) systems move toward a critical state. Seen throughout nature these systems follow a power law where the amount of energy involved in a change is related to the number of events that have occurred such that N is proportional to one over E to the power b (N alpha 1/Eb), where N is the number of events, E is the energy of the event and b is a constant for the system. A pilot series of 316 individuals reporting alcohol problems were studies and the number of individuals (N) reporting number of detoxifications (DN) was found to be related such that N was proportional to one over DN to the power k (N alpha 1/DNk), where k varies with the parameters of the population studies (i.e., gender, time sober). It is hypothesized that the "disease of alcoholism" can be conceptualized to be related to the energy of effort required to move from one "attractor" (drinking) to another (non-drinking) as a power law. The results suggest that alcoholics are "attracted" to the critical state of intoxication independent of clinical presentation or initial conditions.
authors.affiliation: Addiction Centre, Foothills Hospital, Calgary, Alberta, Canada.
authors.forename: W G
authors.initials: WG
authors.lastname: Campbell
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D000416:Alberta; D000437:Alcoholism / Q000523:psychology* / Q000534:rehabilitation; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007206:Individuality; D007389:Internal-External Control; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D009042:Motivation; D011379:Prognosis; D012008:Recurrence; D012649:Self Concept; D016320:Substance Abuse Treatment Centers