Addiction and the Brain
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Addiction and the Brain
Below is a link for an article from Time magazine, dated July 5, 2007.
http://www.time.com/time/magazine/ar...640436,00.html
It's very informative. Enjoy
http://www.time.com/time/magazine/ar...640436,00.html
It's very informative. Enjoy
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Originally Posted by Volkow
Nevertheless, says Volkow, "addiction is a medical condition. We have to recognize that medications can reverse the pathology of the disease. We have to force ourselves to think about a cure because if we don't, it will never happen."
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Great article, the one thing I was glad to see them mention was that even though science may someday come up with a "cure" it does not mean that the alcoholic can start drinking like a normal person again nor can the drug addict start using again, it simply means that one day they may be able to cure the conditions in the brain that cause the "Stinking thinking" that leads to relapse.
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Stone what knocked me for a loop is they said it was after 90 days that a gradual re-engaging begins...... no wonder I was in a fog..... backs up what old timers in AA say, they also have told me I will see improvement for over a year!
One important discovery: evidence is building to support the 90-day rehabilitation model, which was stumbled upon by AA (new members are advised to attend a meeting a day for the first 90 days) and is the duration of a typical stint in a drug-treatment program. It turns out that this is just about how long it takes for the brain to reset itself and shake off the immediate influence of a drug. Researchers at Yale University have documented what they call the sleeper effect--a gradual re-engaging of proper decision making and analytical functions in the brain's prefrontal cortex--after an addict has abstained for at least 90 days.
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Very interesting.
Still, the bottom line is that, despite this scientific study, AA is still the best treatment for alcoholism, right? (And the most cost effective, too.) Only these scientists believe AA works for reasons other than the reasons we (us AA’ers) have been taught AA works.
So, I have to wonder why the spiritual awakening factor hasn’t been factored into the prefrontal cortex, dopamine, GABA, and amygdala stuff. Does it not show up on the fMRI or PET scans or is there no profit in it because it is not patentable? After all somebody has invested money into this study that has to be recouped, no?
Don’t get me wrong. It is a fascinating article and I’d love to read more. I just can’t read something so intriguing without posting my thoughts. Thanks for posting this link.
So, I have to wonder why the spiritual awakening factor hasn’t been factored into the prefrontal cortex, dopamine, GABA, and amygdala stuff. Does it not show up on the fMRI or PET scans or is there no profit in it because it is not patentable? After all somebody has invested money into this study that has to be recouped, no?
Don’t get me wrong. It is a fascinating article and I’d love to read more. I just can’t read something so intriguing without posting my thoughts. Thanks for posting this link.
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Originally Posted by Barto 
So, I have to wonder why the spiritual awakening factor hasn’t been factored into the prefrontal cortex, dopamine, GABA, and amygdala stuff.
let it grow!
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i guess i always wonder how folks who relapse fall into all this. do their brains go back to where they were before ANY recovery time? (ha - i guess you can tell - i am not nor do i form sentences like a scientist. my vocab - pretty simple...)
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My guess is after x time...
relapse is a choice.
relapse is a choice.
Spirituality keeps the mental obsession in check, I have a strong feeling that the mental obsession is never fully gone, but simply crushed by us staying spiritually fit, it sits like a beast waiting in ambush to strike once the time is right, when we quit working our program is when the beast slowly awakens and eventually can strik when we allow circumstnces to free it.
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