Brain Chemistry And What It Means For Addiction Treatments
Addictions are a problem of your brain. What is going wrong with your brain chemistry and shat is the most effective approach to overcome an addiction?
Casinos, beer, adult content, social media… millions of people suffer from some kind of addiction. In order to understand the processes within an addict’s brain let’s compare it to the following image: Picture a family with many brothers. In the beginning, brother A sees something interesting – for example the chance to bet some money in case there is a danger for developing a gambling addiction. He calls the local grocery store A right away and asks them, “Please send some six packs to my brother B.” Brother B decides to do likewise and calls the store B, asking them to send some six packs to brother C. It’s the same with brothers D, E, F, and so on … and after a while, there’s a great party atmosphere with a lot of fun. Everybody is going crazy and the day afterwards everybody feels horrible.
Grocery stores, alcohol and neurotransmitters
What does this image have to do with the brain. Imagine that the brothers A, B, C... are the nerve cells in the brain – and there are many of them. The grocery stores are “synapses”. Between the synapses and the nerve cells there are what researchers call “axons” (that’s the telephone connections in the image). The nerve cells convey electric impulses to the synapses when strong impulses happen from outside. Consequently, the synapses (grocery stores) send chemical signals (six packs) that activate the neighboring nerve cell etc - a strong chain reaction is initiated. In real life, what are six packs in the image, are neurotransmitters, e.g. dopamine, endorphins, and serotonin – what is often called “happiness hormones”. In the story with the brothers, the beer plays the role of the happiness hormones.
Nerve cells and synapses get used to stimuli
What is important to understand is that the brothers are unwilling to constantly use the telephone and call one another or send text messages. Betting for the first time is quite exciting, even the second and third time, but then it requires more to rise from the couch and ask your brother to get beer from the grocery store. With regards to the brain, this means that nerve cells and synapses get “bored” by receiving always the same signals and therefore refuse to send neurotransmitters in that case. For enjoying the same degree of excitement more stimuli are needed.
It’s like with basket ball
This is the same in other areas of life. Imagine that your favorite basketball team suddenly wins 80-30. Wow, that is incredible and exciting and makes you very happy. If they win again 80-30 the next week, it is still incredible and you feel almost the same amount of happiness. However, if they keep on winning 80-30 every week, it will take an 80-0, a 120-30, or 90-85 to make you enthusiastic again; this is not likely to happen. Fortunately, as you do not only have basketball in your life, you will find other areas in life that provide you satisfaction. In contrast to someone addicted, you are not so dependent on always having a certain level of happiness hormones in your blood.
The concept of ‘addiction memory’
For people who are addicted it’s vital to always have a good quantity of neurotransmitters in the blood. Over the years, addicts perceived this to be a great strategy how to deal with problems, with isolation and with self-hatred. When there are triggers for addictive behavior the addiction memory comes into place. Addicts learned throughout their addiction that they must to offer excitement to their nerve cells so that the synapses can start distributing neurotransmitters. That ‘excitement’ is the drug and the dose has been rising over the years. Depending on the type of addiction, the drug can be gambling, alcohol, adult movies or others. In case an addict offers something too weak to his nerve cells no endorphins and serotonin are distributed and instead there will be frustration, i.e. symptoms of withdrawal.
Uproars and relapses
Relating it back to the image from before, withdrawal symptoms mean that the brothers become annoyed, they can’t throw a party anymore, and instead begin uproars and oppose the “system” until they get what they need in the end (the drug). Relating it back to addictions, an addict could attempt to not consume his drug anymore but as the consequence he would feel stressed out and there would be an uproar, i.e. a relapse.
Gradual reduction
Therefore, it’s more effective and more sustainable to reduce the level of drugs gradually, for example by 20% per week. Take the example of somebody addicted to adult content on the internet. If currently his daily dose is five hours per day, the target for the first week could be reducing it to four hours. If a woman has an alcohol problem and consumes ten cans of beer a day she should drink only eight – the target for the first seven days. Contrary to what some people might think, 20% isn’t little. 20% less happiness hormones can be difficult for the brain to accept. Therefore, addicts undergoing a therapy must learn how to bring fun, excitement and relaxation from new activities to their everyday life.
Step by step towards sustainable success
It’s important to reduce the drug intake slowly. The brain must learn how to ‘survive’ with 10% less neurotransmitters, then 20%, then 30% and so on. If the body can adapt to constantly less stimuli then chances are much greater to successfully manage a relapse. Addicts won’t fall back to their old level of drug consumption but to one of the levels that have been learned during the reduction process. Although addicts prefer to not think about relapses at the beginning of a therapy, it’s more productive to realize that relapses almost always happen. Preparing for them is an important element in any good addiction treatment.
Addicts should stop feeling useless
Understanding their brain chemistry can help addicts feel better about themselves. Particularly in the beginning of a therapy, the majority of addicts suffer from low self-esteem. It’s wrong to ponder about shame and guilt, to accuse themselves, to feel useless and so on. Reasoning like that is fuel to their addictions. Instead, it’s biology, the chemical processes in the brain that make them do the things they do. They are not worthless because they suffer from an addiction. They can’t overcome their problems just with good intentions and with their will power. The biochemical processes in the brain need to be taken into consideration when reflecting about themselves and when starting a treatment.
Author Byline:
I am Frank Lavario, founder of the Lavario internet-based addiction healing programs. I lived many years in New York, Germany, Italy and other countries and now share my practical experience in addiction counseling in various articles on the internet.
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