The link below is to a kind of ‘lecture’ video where a doctor talks about his own experience with addiction and experiences of others. The reason why I’m sharing it is that in the second half of the video he talks about brain pathways and the physiological reason why there can never be ‘just one more time’ for an addict. He talks about why we get out of control once we start using or drinking, the physical reason why moderation doesn’t work for addicts, and why for addicts it needs to be complete abstinence.
I found it really interesting and useful for myself, and figured that if even one other person here watched it and also found it helpful, then it would be worth sharing.
Thank you for sharing, @Chiron. I watched all 63 minutes and learned a lot about compulsivity. The science behind it made sense to me. When the brain creates a new neuro path it never forgets it. I have created a permanent change in my brain that now makes it respond differently chemically to a single drink than it did before I was a regular drinker. That is why I can’t stop at just one any more. It isn’t about will power. It is a true chemical reaction that differs from those that are not chemically dependent. I made my brain re-configure to accommodate my years of abuse. Now I just have to accept it. This video really helped me. Thank you!!!
I’m really glad it was helpful, @Roundkick . It really helped me accept the physiological realities as well, and the reason why despite my best intentions if I started using, I couldn’t stop until I literally had nothing left in my house. For a long while I couldn’t understand how it got that way because once upon a time I was able to use in moderation. This video really helped me understand the hows and whys, and that actually made me feel better about myself as a person too. As if I was somehow less of a terrible person, you know?
I completely know what you mean. I felt the same way after watching it. The amazing thing is that the human body works to compensate for the poison we ingest. The naive thing is we want to expect no consequences. We need to accept that we physically changed our brain functionality and need to work within the new rules as a result. I can more easily accept it since I better understand the “why”.
The last 10 mins or so was very interesting, especially about how for some people after long periods of abuse, alcohol becomes thp, which is similar to opiates. The idea that now drinking is the same as taking drugs to my brain is sobering (pun intended )
This video was very helpful to me. Thanks for sharing! I now understand why I’m 30+ days sober and still think of drinking 30 times a day. I’m looking forward to the day I’m not thinking about it.
@Misokatsu I found that interesting too! Also always down for a good pun.
@Doingmybest I’m glad the video was helpful for you. I feel you on thinking about using so many times a day. It seems almost paradoxical to want to get clean but also think about using so much. But knowing there’s a real physiological component gets me through sometimes.
I watched the last 10 mins. Just a few things. I’m still early in my studies in behavioral science, but we literally just went over this.
The chemical pathways he lays out are correct. Learned those when I was studying biology.
I have watched a lecture from Jordan Peterson talking about dopamine response. Idk how established the science is, but for a % of the population they just have a dopamine response. It is this response that makes it addictive. Your brain doesn’t change. You actually have an alcoholic gene.
Understanding the chemistry is one thing, but their is a behavioral level that works along side it and arguably is more important to know.
So what happens is you drink for the first time. That dopamine response gets triggerred or you just have a really positive experience. All those stimuli that were around you called contextual stimuli also get reinforced while the primary stimuli ( the alcohol) and response (getting drunk or dopamine response) is getting reinforced. That pathway he is taking about. Over some time shorter if you have the dopamine response some people start developing a problem.
The problem comes from conditioning to this and all those contextual stimuli get reinforced. So in your brain you have like a network around a primary pathway.
So what happens is one of those contextual stimuli gets tripped. Your around an old drinking buddy or you see your favorite alcohol. It starts lighting up that network. You end up drinking.
So then during recovery what happens is extinction, which is the process of having a conditioned stimulus, but getting the conditioned response. You start triggering some of those contextual stimuli, but not getting drunk making the network smaller and smaller. Don’t put your self in a bar or something. Too many contextual stimuli.
There is a think called spontaneous recovery, which is a sudden recurrence of the conditioned behavior. I believe this is why relapses occur even after years of recovery. Not sure if it’s the cause of 100% of relapses. But some.
You can understand the chemistry all you want, but you can’t change chemistry. Just like it’s almost impossible to completely extinction that primary conditioned behavior, but understanding the behavioral level can really help you on your way to recovery.
Like I said I’m early in my studies, so don’t just take my word for it do some research. Don’t just take this guys word for it either. Science is constantly changing with new research and information. I hope this gives y’all a little more insight to some of the biology and behavioral sciences of it all. It’s really interesting stuff.
Welcome to the community. I appreciate everything you typed out and I agree with you very much on a lot of what you said. Also bonus points for mentioning Jordan Peterson’s lectures. He’s a brilliant man and I’ve watched lectures where he’s talked about what you mentioned.
I don’t think the doctor in the video was saying that behavior didn’t matter or that addiction was only the result of chemistry. Of course behavior matters, which is what is strongly addressed with addiction recovery, sometimes to the point of only focusing on the behavior. It’s the chemistry that isn’t talked about much, if at all, which is why this video is so poignant and worth watching.
Does this doctor have all the answers? No. Does a person’s behavior, the way they view the world, and the contextual stimuli present in their life matter in the ability to stay clean? Absolutely. I don’t think anyone would say otherwise. But to understand the physiology of what is going on in the brain and body can go a long way in helping people understand the physical struggle that happens inside the addict. This is a useful piece of the puzzle for the addict as well as those associated with them.
Someone you may or may not find to be interesting is Dr. Joe Dispenza. If you read his work, I recommend reading his books in order of publication. There are some interviews he’s done online, but the books focus more on the science.
Thanks for sharing @Chiron. Another piece of the puzzle that’s me right here. Understand myself and my relationship to drugs and booze a little bit better. Of course this is not the whole answer, only a small part of it really. It doesn’t quite fit my relationship to weed for example. There was compulsion there but it sort of extinguished itself because the effect of smoking pot just became all negative for me. Took me 15 years to quit though.
It does fit my relationship to alcohol pretty well. Even though I drank for 40 years, on the addiction scale I still got out relatively early compared to a lot of other alcoholics. I never hit social or financial rock bottom even though mentally and emotionally I got pretty close to it. Makes it kind of hard to understand to my friends (and even myself at times) why I think I can never have another one. This explains that pretty well.
