Expert: What criteria distinguish addictive substances from nonaddictive ones? Some have suggested that any substanc...

Ravi on January 20, 2020

@aahn,

Let's take a look.

In looking at the stimulus, we have some language that is
diagrammable. We know that extreme difficulty with withdrawal is a
necessary condition for an addictive substance.

Addictive substance - >extreme difficulty with withdrawal for most users

We don't have anything else that combines with this conditional
statement, so the correct answer choice will probably follow along
with this statement or its contrapositive, which is

not extreme difficulty with withdrawal for most users - >not addictive substance

(C) says, "A substance that some habitual users can cease to use with
little or no psychological or physiological difficulty is addictive
only if that is not true for most habitual users."

We know that users of an addictive substance must have great
difficulties when they're faced with withdrawal. (C), when diagrammed,
is

addictive substance - >difficulty for most users to cease using (this
is essentially the same thing as 'extreme difficulty with withdrawal
for most users')

This matches the conditional statement from the stimulus, so it's the
correct answer, as it's something we can infer. Thus, (C) is our
choice.

Hope this helps. Let us know if you have any other questions!