Most drugs affect the brain's "reward circuit," causing euphoria as well as flooding it with the chemical messenger dopamine. A properly functioning reward system motivates a person to repeat behaviors needed to thrive, such as eating and spending time with loved ones. Surges of dopamine in the reward circuit cause the reinforcement of pleasurable but unhealthy behaviors like taking drugs, leading people to repeat the behavior again and again.
As a person continues to use drugs, the brain adapts by reducing the ability of cells in the reward circuit to respond to it. This reduces the high that the person feels compared to the high they felt when first taking the drug—an effect known as tolerance.
They might take more of the drug to try and achieve the same high. These brain adaptations often lead to the person becoming less and less able to derive pleasure from other things they once enjoyed, like food, sex, or social activities.
Long-term use also causes changes in other brain chemical systems and circuits as well, affecting functions that include:. Despite being aware of these harmful outcomes, many people who use drugs continue to take them, which is the nature of addiction.
No one factor can predict if a person will become addicted to drugs. A combination of factors influences risk for addiction. The more risk factors a person has, the greater the chance that taking drugs can lead to addiction.
For example:. However, addiction is treatable and can be successfully managed. People who are recovering from an addiction will be at risk for relapse for years and possibly for their whole lives. Research shows that combining addiction treatment medicines with behavioral therapy ensures the best chance of success for most patients.
I can work via skype. I think the most effective way Dan is to share your thoughts about addiction and about anything with a true friend, every time he wants to go to his addiction to pick up the phone and call this true friend… you can watch Flight Movie to know more about what I am saying.
Hypnotherapy is wonderful way to access inner resources and learnings that can be applied to addiction issues. Feel free to message me through my website or call to discuss further. Hi I have been addicted to almost everything. Now getting attention is addiction.
Lots of childhood behaviors. For me and many, repeated exposure to positive videos — look up igodmind on youtube — reading positive self help books, AND deep contemplation can help. Some need further assistance. I know some people that do not respond well to self-help. Maybe professional help is needed at this point. I disagree with Dan. The worst thing a misery addict can do is to focus on themselves and their problem.
I am a serious misery addict, and have just been told so by an insightful and extremely productive individual who cares about me. He told me I have to face it and stop being proud of being miserable and victimized. Tough love.
But he also pointed out that it is horribly self-indulgent and I should stop wallowing in it, and to me, that is much, much harder than watching self-help videos or self meditation. Self reflection can be a good thing, but people wallowing in misery and victimization need to get outside of themselves and love and care for others. Dan is right. LizS alifeonyourterms. If you have something that you even vaguely enjoy doing, you can find a volunteer opportunity.
If you want to meet new people, go fold newsletters for Habitat for Humanity. If you want to pet kitties, find a no-kill shelter and ask how you can help. If you have a profession like cutting hair or electrician — there are elderly and poor, disabled people who need your help.
What do we do?! You certainly have turned things around! Recognizing these things about ourselves is the awareness it takes to make a change. Awareness and non-judgment are so crucial. The judgment just sends us right back to the self-pity of being addicted to suffering.
Thanks Carmelo! I appreciate that. Compassion for yourself is important! Liz, compassion for oneself is important. Sure do. Good luck, Magic Marge Been there, done that, it works! Sounds like rough stuff, I was lucky to be born in a good family large with 11 kids but good. My mom also was born into a family of 11 children. Especially if no one emphasizes with them. Great post Liz.
Thank you so much for sharing. The victim game is so easy to get trapped into. It seems like our society is set up to encourage it. It is also the most powerful way that we dis-empower ourselves.
Seeing what your up to is an important first step. Congrats for taking it and sharing it. Thanks for the post.. It hit home to hear someone else say the things I have always known. Seeing them and hearing how they manifest in another persons life brings them closer to the surface.
This is a great story about self discovery Liz. If only everyone could go through this same process in life. Thanks again. I just wrote about this on Tuesday. One of the issues is your personal operating system, the base level beliefs that you use to live your life.
Another issue is the vocabulary you use to invoke your now. When you use always and never, you get to be right. It was just the other day when my thoughts were wandering in this general direction, then just now, I read your story. Everything got a little brighter and there were angels singing in the background, do you think that might have been a sign, lol! It warms my heart to hear that. Really I am. A very good read. I can relate to many warning signs.
The playing music just to feel the pain, The on and off quitting of smoking cigarettes and then urge to just seem to make things hard is tempting. Never thought so much into it until now. Liz you could be going in a path that can open up alot of things for people. But I used to put the music on when I started to feel better!
This topic can get so complex. Also, it was a great way to get attention and a good excuse to not be responsible. It relieved me of the responsibly of taking control of my life, and I felt like I needed that. That was the suffering I was referring too.
Takes a lot of courage to recognize that Alex. Thank you for sharing and let me know if you need anything. Thank you for your support, Liz! I found your web-site A Life on Your Terms really valuable for me. Absolutely brilliant Liz! Like you, I learned the hard way. Now I train and write books about it! Hey Pamina! Wow great site. Some people just lie in that pain, it happened with me as well and one has to be a warrior to come out of it..
I had not thought about this in terms of addiction before, but rather habits, mostly thinking habits, thinking habits that we developed sometimes without even knowing it or ever questioning it. The addiction model makes a lot of sense in relation to habits. For me, I spent a lot of my life hypervigilant, expecting disaster if I lowered my guard. Thankfully I wore myself out and changed my life from the inside out. When you argue and win, your brain floods with different hormones: adrenaline and dopamine, which makes you feel good, dominant, even invincible.
We get addicted to being right. They are extremely good at fighting for their point of view which is indeed often right yet they are completely unaware of the dampening impact that behavior has on the people around them.
If one person is getting high off his or her dominance, others are being drummed into submission, experiencing the fight, flight, freeze or appease response I described before, which diminishes their collaborative impulses. Your goal as a leader should be to spur the production of oxytocin in yourself and others, while avoiding at least in the context of communication those spikes of cortisol and adrenaline.
Set rules of engagement. Have everyone suggest ways to make it a productive, inclusive conversation and write the ideas down for everyone to see.
For example, you might agree to give people extra time to explain their ideas and to listen without judgment. These practices will counteract the tendency to fall into harmful conversational patterns. Afterwards, consider see how you and the group did and seek to do even better next time. Listen with empathy. In one-on-one conversations, make a conscious effort to speak less and listen more. Plan who speaks.
0コメント