Our Brain and Addiction – Overview
Posted on November 20th, 2011
The brain can become addicted because of our genes, because of our early environment, because of a serious life event like the loss of a loved person, a pet, a job, a home.
When we have experienced the loss of a loved one, our brain grieves not only the loss of that person (job, home, pet, etc.) but the loss of the wonderful feelings we experienced with them.
This is not a small deal. Those wonderful feelings – caused by chemicals in our brain – are felt in our body and then recognized by our brain as feeling safe and protected and loved – and as happiness.
It is very normal to want to replace or replicate those wonderful feelings – and, because [obviously] we cannot bring back our loved one, our brain might motivate us to reach out for whatever else in our past made us feel good.
Whether it was a substance or a behavior that made us feel good, our brain can too easily allow it to develop into an addiction.
Dr. Nora Volkow's research into addiction summarizes it thusly:
The Brain and Addiction – How Does The Brain Become Addicted?
Posted on November 18th, 2011
The following was written by Dr. Nora Volkow – a most important researcher and scientist. The way she writes about the brain and addiction is perfect and so, credited to her, I will just post it as she wrote it.
The Brain and Addiction – The Problem of Relapse
Posted on November 16th, 2011
So many people beat themselves up about being weak or deficient – or feel life is just hopeless – when they cannot stay on their desired path – when they fall back into old habits that keep them from accomplishing their goals.
Fortunately, there is so much research being done on the addicted brain [whether the addiction is to sugar, alcohol, etc.], and we can use that research to help us avoid a relapse. Just understanding what's happening in our brain is so very empowering and liberating. Just understanding can help us (a) pause before acting on the unhealthy desire long enough for the brain to observe itself and (b) change direction – literally and figuratively.
This is Dr. Nora Volkow's description of Relapse