The origins of pleasure and addiction
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The origins of pleasure and addiction
There's a new book out, titled "The Compass of Pleasure: How Our Brains Make Fatty Foods, Orgasm, Exercise, Marijuana, Generosity, Vodka, Learning, and Gambling Feel So Good."
From NPR's website, "Linden is a professor of neuroscience at the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine and the chief editor of the Journal of Neurophysiology. When he spoke with Fresh Air's Terry Gross, he explained that the scientific definition of addiction is actually rooted in the brain's inability to experience pleasure.
"There are variants in genes that turn down the function of dopamine signaling within the pleasure circuit," Linden explains. For people who carry these gene variants, their muted dopamine systems lead to blunted pleasure circuits, which in turn affects their pleasure-seeking activities, he says."
This reinforces something I read a year or so ago, about the many, many people who are dopamine deficient/inefficient. Also, my daughter's psychiatrist and neurologist mentioned this a while back, too.
I know I'm an addict by nature; its something I've been aware of for a while. I realized it when I took Wellbutrin to stop smoking, it's a dopamine stimulant. I felt so energetic and balanced. When I stopped taking it, I had to drastically increase natural ways of stimulating dopamine. I also had to learn to spread my addictive nature around to multiple things, so I wouldn't bottom out with one. I have so many interests and hobbies it would make a 'normal' persons head spin. I have to stay busy!
For anyone out there struggling with an addict, whether active or recovering, please learn everything you can about the science of addiction. It helped me to detach, stop taking my daughter's actions personally, and learn how to protect myself from them. It helped me learn I was no different from my daughter, in that she had become the sole focus of my addictive nature.
The science of addiction does not excuse the behaviors, it only explains them. The behavioral aspects come into play with sobriety, hitting rock bottom, if/when an addict decides to find better ways of dealing with their challenges. The same applies to us on this side.
From NPR's website, "Linden is a professor of neuroscience at the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine and the chief editor of the Journal of Neurophysiology. When he spoke with Fresh Air's Terry Gross, he explained that the scientific definition of addiction is actually rooted in the brain's inability to experience pleasure.
"There are variants in genes that turn down the function of dopamine signaling within the pleasure circuit," Linden explains. For people who carry these gene variants, their muted dopamine systems lead to blunted pleasure circuits, which in turn affects their pleasure-seeking activities, he says."
This reinforces something I read a year or so ago, about the many, many people who are dopamine deficient/inefficient. Also, my daughter's psychiatrist and neurologist mentioned this a while back, too.
I know I'm an addict by nature; its something I've been aware of for a while. I realized it when I took Wellbutrin to stop smoking, it's a dopamine stimulant. I felt so energetic and balanced. When I stopped taking it, I had to drastically increase natural ways of stimulating dopamine. I also had to learn to spread my addictive nature around to multiple things, so I wouldn't bottom out with one. I have so many interests and hobbies it would make a 'normal' persons head spin. I have to stay busy!
For anyone out there struggling with an addict, whether active or recovering, please learn everything you can about the science of addiction. It helped me to detach, stop taking my daughter's actions personally, and learn how to protect myself from them. It helped me learn I was no different from my daughter, in that she had become the sole focus of my addictive nature.
The science of addiction does not excuse the behaviors, it only explains them. The behavioral aspects come into play with sobriety, hitting rock bottom, if/when an addict decides to find better ways of dealing with their challenges. The same applies to us on this side.
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Join Date: Jun 2011
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All I can say is addiction is the most cunning , baffling, powerful thing I have ever experienced. It defys logic! How people can just throw away all that is important in their life, all that is precious and beautiful, just for a feelng from a drug , is something I will never understand.
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Originally Posted by Darklight 
I have to disagree with you on this point.
Certainly there is a neurological basis for chemical changes that occur during the process of using a substance, however, these kind of resports say nothing about the psychological basis of addiction, nor do they address spiritual factors involved in the addiction process.
And yes it does work for me. As I said, understanding helped me detach and that was my goal
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