The Likely Cause of Addiction Has Been Discovered, And It Is Not What You Think

a reply to: purplemer

Interesting find OP

The only issue I have is we have to buy the book in order to access the list of references and end-notes...?

Granted it is intellectual property , but I find this suspicious.

I do not have time now but if anyone can find a study link on:

www.sciencedirect.com...

or

www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov...

please link into this thread and reply to me in it.

originally posted by: Bloodydagger
How do you explain nicotine addiction? People with extremely happy lives smoke or do tobacco in some form every single day of their lives.

Same thing with alcohol addiction. There are some extremely happy people that just love the taste of good whiskey or good beer and over indulge in it.

Ive also known people personally who were happily married and loved their family and were extremely happy and loved to smoke Marijuana.

While I think you're on to something OP, I don't think it explains things as a whole.

I believe that there are certain levels of addiction regarding the "whys". I think some people look at alcohol, weed or tobacco as some kind of favorite past time or hobby.

For some people it is simply something they enjoy. When it interferes with their lives and they continue to do it, it's an addiction.

All this study proves is that rats have feelings.

Russell Brand discusses this very subject with Author of "Chasing the Scream: The First and Last Days of the War on Drugs" Johann Hari.

Really interesting, worth a watch

It is exactly what i thought. As i am a smoker of cigarettes and was a drinker and indulged in drugs in my past. I smoke more when i have more time and when i am bored. Relatives and me used drugs as a crutch from my interpretation. It has been made into a social thing for many, but still a crutch to comfort and loose inhibitions.

I, for one, am an alcoholic. I get my "medicine" through a specific fellowship of people with a program that has the highest (purposely unstudied) rate of recovery in the world. And I want to say that this still does not make sense to any truly recovered addict or alcoholic.

I see and hear from hundreds of recovering people a week, and we all have one important thing in common. From the very moment that we were born, we have had a deep black hole inside of us. Some of us grew up poor; some grew up with a white picket fence, and others with a silver spoon. Some (like myself) grew up in an extremely loving and nurturing household. But for some reason, by the time I was 8, I had already had my first few drinks because I found that it took my completely out of my self, and self fueled misery because I felt "different" than the rest of the kids.

This study probably very well does make sense to the "normies" (normal people who have never experienced true obsession fueled oblivion), because its easy to look at it and say "Oh! this makes so much sense!". Well it doesn't. None of the programs of recovery have any true way of measuring themselves because we pride ourselves on anonymity, but if there was, you'd see over twenty million people worldwide who had recovered through a hopeless state of mind, body and spirit that was caused from a black hole that was implanted in us before we could ever even remember our first memories.

(and no, not even a quarter of us were abused in any way as children)

I hope I made sense and could bridge the gap between the normal world understanding where someone like me that had zero reason to ever start using substances to escape lived their life.

This is a confirmation what i suspected for a while. Many, many years ago I was once addicted to anti-depressant medication whilst i was married to my ex then we separated and inexplicably i had no desire for it any longer & i stopped taking them all together. A change of environment was the case for me i suspected & this topic by Op confirmed my suspicions.

Thank you, a star & a flag!!!

a reply to: Brotherman

star. flag. enough said.

a reply to: purplemer
Like all things in psychology, "it's more complicated than that", but it certainly is correlated. Drugs [anything that removes you from reality, really] are there as a replacement for fulfillment. That includes things like video games, which allow one to live vicariously through a more interesting character.

Addiction comes when the habit is more rewarding/fulfilling than normal life, and/or aptly covers up some form of experienced misery.

Interesting as it may show why people in chronic pain do not get addicted but only dependent on pain meds.

If the pain is suddenly gone due to surgery or other reasons they do not have withdraw symptoms.

originally posted by: Guenter
a reply to: purplemer

Makes absolute sense. If one is happy and loved, why use drugs?

Because it's fun.

a reply to: purplemer

This is so very true... Thanks for sharing this purp...

We are a product of our environment and experiences - makes complete sense - if we have nothing to live for, no purpose in life, no happiness - then it seems only natural to want to escape it.. Whatever that escape or release may be...

a reply to: purplemer

Cool study. great thread.

This would likely be the case with non physical addictions as well.
Such as gambling. But I doubt if the study proves all addicts are
addicts because they have unhappy lives. Some people are happy
and still go off the deep end. Alcoholics pop up in all walks of life
and could be anyone. But then again, just because someone is a drunk
doesn't mean they're an alcoholic.

SnF

a reply to: Alekto

Because it's fun.

Its not always fun and games. I have seen drugs, drug laws and social attitudes destroy people...

purp..

While the main gist of the OP is on target, as in happy people don't seek to get drooling/delirious all the time, ie escape, there are, of course, more complexities and exceptions, to everything, but most definitely to addiction.

It also depends on the substance, too, of course... they are tools for different purposes and vary, wildly, in mental effect and how the body reacts.

But some folks are perfectly happy and are curious about the different states of the mind, and/or they are happy and want to spread it with friends, etc. ... and trouble may ensue, or enlightenment, or a giggle, or not much of anything of significance.

In short, I know many folks who are "happy" .. .whatever that really means... and they still gobble a lot of psychoactive chems... and in some cases it was the chems themselves and their highly addictive nature that snared them.

So ...exceptions... they'll always come up in any system or theory... that's all.

Even if this study doesn't immediately answer all of the questions to the complex issue of addiction, I think that it is a very significant observation, and it makes sense. I've personally dealt with substance addiction, and I've known many who have. One of the biggest things that I found in common between addicts is that they feel isolated or "alone" in their plight. Even if they are surrounded by addicts, they find common ground in the addiction or the pursuit of the substance itself... a "misery loves company" sort of thing.

But when there is a feeling of genuine acceptance and love, and the addicts feel that their societal roles are important, the rate of success is much higher. Think of how our government locks up drug addicts, most of whom hurt themselves first and foremost... They receive no rehabilitation, and are released back into the wild to further damage themselves and to share their pain with others. When there is a mindset to isolate them from society for the perception of the "safety of others", then we obviously don't find a successful way to cure their ailments or, in turn, make things safer or happier for anybody. The War on Drugs as we know it only further fuels the suffering.

As a believer in Christ, and one who has at times leaned towards seeing the world strictly in black and white, believing every single thing is explained by the spiritual war. ( I still will always believe that 4th dimensional realm of angels and demons exist within our realm)

I will honestly say, keeping my beliefs in context of all of this It's a struggle to rationalize some of this scientific discoveries with my faith. Studies like this only further exasperate this problem...

It doesn't mean I don't believe in Christ and the word anymore, but I have to be real and I have to admit that the fundamentalist viewpoint may be very flawed when it comes to issues of addiction.

Example.. If I were to speak with church leaders about this study.. A. they probably wouldn't agree and would be stubborn and refuse to read too deep into the science behind it

B. They would simply tell me all addiction simply comes from temptation from Satan, and it is sin plain and simple.( not saying the devil doesn't tempt, but this all or nothing notion I'm starting to believe science is proving wrong).

From personal experience of abusing alcohol,gambling and drugs heavily in my past, I can honestly say.. It was when I turned my back on the faith and felt no purpose in life, felt like I was an accident of the universe destined for misery, and when my family fell apart and my Dad left us.. that's when the addictions starting getting out of control.

This backs up the thesis of this study as shown by the OP to be true. In that environment plays a crucial role.

If science and faith every collide in intertwine and we begin seeing the duality within, as opposed to going to war with one another. If we ever see that science in facts points to God. and see all the rainbow as opposed to black and white, this world would be a much better place.

originally posted by: Brotherman
It can be difficult in the real world to get happiness, so many times in my experience I can seek it and always come up short.

Happiness is a state of mind. Many people aren't taught properly by their parents, and it only gets worse if you rely upon the system (education, society, media, etc.) to provide you with what the model for happiness is.

Many of us are rarely told - do what makes you happy. Often the model for happiness is based solely on consumerism and status symbols that are purchased. People begin to equate self-worth with the money and items accumulated with that money. This model of humanity is not only destructive but it is soulless.

There is no doubt why people seek escape from it through addictive means. It's only worse because they aren't taught properly early on.

Your post is the closest to the truth of the matter imho. I started taking pain killers for a hereditary condition I have and it went from there. It's really a scary thing to deal with. I don't believe the veterans who came back from 'nam just quit either. The fact that people use rats to understand other people is insane. How about quit stereotyping and ask the people who are having the problem and go from there. Placing labels and looking down your self-righteous nose at people only makes the problem worse. I don't mean you odd1out. I get more than a little emotional with this because of my experience and seeing other people I care about die or lose their minds. Congrats on your sobriety and I commend you for helping people in this situation.
Thank you also Purplemer for this thread!!a reply to: odd1out

People don't like environmental factors....that requires change. And that is difficult. Wouldn't surprise me if being black back in the day was listed in the DSM as a disease. Suppose it didn't need to be with societal racism. But then eugenics was the medical communities version.

Basically, they can push it on a single individual, burden them, and the rest can move on. Happens in the school system, a lot of places. Conformity or get lost.

Recent multi-year study in Canada found that the best, cheapest way to deal with homelessness was to, shocking, provide the homeless, housing. It was remarkably cheaper, ER visits dropped and usage of other social services were reduced. I believe they were was also a drop in drug/alcohol use as well.

To quote Titanic, "When you got nothing you got nothing to lose".