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

Type4_PTS

Diamond Invictus SP
I just read an article in the Huffington Post by Johann Hari, the author of 'Chasing the Scream: The First and Last Days of the War on Drugs' published just a week ago.

In the few minutes it took to read the article it completely changed my view on addictions, and how to help people with them. (not just addictions to drugs, but any addictions)

Here's an excerpt of the article:

addictions_zpsu20o8z3z.jpg


It is now one hundred years since drugs were first banned -- and all through this long century of waging war on drugs, we have been told a story about addiction by our teachers and by our governments. This story is so deeply ingrained in our minds that we take it for granted. It seems obvious. It seems manifestly true. Until I set off three and a half years ago on a 30,000-mile journey for my new book, Chasing The Scream: The First And Last Days of the War on Drugs, to figure out what is really driving the drug war, I believed it too. But what I learned on the road is that almost everything we have been told about addiction is wrong -- and there is a very different story waiting for us, if only we are ready to hear it.

If we truly absorb this new story, we will have to change a lot more than the drug war. We will have to change ourselves.

I learned it from an extraordinary mixture of people I met on my travels. From the surviving friends of Billie Holiday, who helped me to learn how the founder of the war on drugs stalked and helped to kill her. From a Jewish doctor who was smuggled out of the Budapest ghetto as a baby, only to unlock the secrets of addiction as a grown man. From a transsexual crack dealer in Brooklyn who was conceived when his mother, a crack-addict, was raped by his father, an NYPD officer. From a man who was kept at the bottom of a well for two years by a torturing dictatorship, only to emerge to be elected President of Uruguay and to begin the last days of the war on drugs.

I had a quite personal reason to set out for these answers. One of my earliest memories as a kid is trying to wake up one of my relatives, and not being able to. Ever since then, I have been turning over the essential mystery of addiction in my mind -- what causes some people to become fixated on a drug or a behavior until they can't stop? How do we help those people to come back to us? As I got older, another of my close relatives developed a cocaine addiction, and I fell into a relationship with a heroin addict. I guess addiction felt like home to me.

<snip>

Full Post: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/johann-hari/the-real-cause-of-addicti_b_6506936.html
 

Intentionally Blank

Scientology Widow
I just read an article in the Huffington Post by Johann Hari, the author of 'Chasing the Scream: The First and Last Days of the War on Drugs' published just a week ago.

In the few minutes it took to read the article it completely changed my view on addictions, and how to help people with them. (not just addictions to drugs, but any addictions)

Here's an excerpt of the article:

Excellent article. Here's another excerpt that dovetails with the work I did with addicts at one time. This idea has been around for a long time - perhaps not so succinctly or cogently stated. And, I think, as in all belief systems that are growing and evolving as more data becomes available philosophies overlap as the new research is being integrated into what we already know and observe.

This gives us an insight that goes much deeper than the need to understand addicts. Professor Peter Cohen argues that human beings have a deep need to bond and form connections. It's how we get our satisfaction. If we can't connect with each other, we will connect with anything we can find -- the whirr of a roulette wheel or the prick of a syringe. He says we should stop talking about 'addiction' altogether, and instead call it 'bonding.' A heroin addict has bonded with heroin because she couldn't bond as fully with anything else.
So the opposite of addiction is not sobriety. It is human connection.

The foundation we worked from is USE/ABUSE is the symptom of the addiction not addiction itself. At a primal level addiction, as we posed it, is a perverted, faulty, and incredibly painful self perception and accompanying set of beliefs about the rest of the world. This set of faulty beliefs made it nearly impossible to fully connect or engage with another human being with any degree of intimacy. As this article states, bonding -- and therefore some level of relief from the pain -- is with the substance of choice.

In un-healed addicts when one substance is removed it is replaced by another substance at a very high rate. People with food addictions who choose surgery to manage their weight loss have a significant rate of exchanging food for alcohol, shopping, gambling, etc. http://www.obesityaction.org/educat...oss-addiction-a-look-at-binge-eating-disorder

Addiction is a fascinating subject. My former business partner - the one who lost all my money and destroyed my business but who made me savvy enough to never comingle funds again and therefore saved me from letting a future scn spouse fritter it all away -- was an addict with, most likely, borderline personality disorder. (Imagine the fun!) For some years after my business failed I worked in the addiction community while I figured out how to put my life back together. Fascinating stuff. This makes me nostalgic. Thanks for sharing.

Blanky
 

sallydannce

Gold Meritorious Patron
This is fascinating stuff. I looked at addiction when I left the cult because I craved. I mean I craved, my skin crawled (literally) and my body ached. I just wanted "the tek". I knew I couldn't touch "the tek" because I had to break the habit. It was that simple and that complicated. A deeply entrenched habit that had a hold over me.

So I started wondering what the hell had happened. By chance I had a conversation with a young woman who had been a cocaine addict. She graciously described the path into her addiction and the miserable path out. For some reason, which I still fail to comprehend, I felt just like her though my addiction had not been a substance I put into my body.

A bit later as I began my long messy journey back into a world I felt very alienated from, I revisited some of my youth and thought about a friend I had had. She had died from drug-related illnesses, aged 40 years, having been an opiate addict for about 20 years. I went to her grave, sat quietly, wept and tried to work out what was different from her addiction and mine. And it hit me, there was very little difference except I had lived to tell the tale and she hadn't.

What I concluded, in my very unscientific manner, was the thing we all wanted was to belong, to connect, and we each used a diversion. Mine was a group/system that held me tightly (and I let it), their diversion from something deep within was drugs.

A bit later I read about oxytocin (the bonding hormone). I started experimenting with ways to increase its levels. I danced, I watched comedies, etc, to observe my internal responses. I felt better. So I deliberately began a daily increase-my-oxytocin levels practice. These days that simply involves playing a song I like and dancing around the living room for a few minutes.

I'm convinced that scientology has a huge habit forming factor. Funny because even now if I feel lonely or a bit down, I still have a slight craving for an o/w write-up or a tape play. It is a deep longing which doesn't make an iota of logical sense. Just last night I sat here wishing I could still plug in to my "drug of choice". And I knew exactly why I felt like that. It was about bonding, belonging, connection. That's what I work on when I feel lost without my "drug of choice".

In a hurry here so posting this with all and any typos and non-nonsensical construction.
 
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Leland

Crusader
If taking drugs are among other things....a sort of desire to get relief from "pain".....(of what ever type...mental, physical, spiritual)

and one reads a Cult book...or is body routed....or whatever...and gets involved with the Cult...

Are there "doingnesses" in the Cult that can relieve that pain??

The Dianetics book.....does say the "human condition" has been figured out...and that Dianootics is a solution... (I bought that one)

And the other "doingnesses" such as a Comm Course...or some such.....REDIRECTS the mind away from established patterns...and gives one a "new direction" , "new goals" ,"new obstacles " to redirect ones attention...and such.

Then KSW.....

And one has started on the Cult route.....

It is a sort of substitute....direction....to take....or a miss-direction. It is a "slight of hand" type thing....a controlling and altering attention....to something else.

Just some thoughts.
 
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Intentionally Blank

Scientology Widow
Sally -
I knew and worked with a folks who identified as religiously addicted. I just did a quick search and some of the signs and symptoms are listed below. In looking at them one can't help but wonder if there are studies of the intersection between religious cults and religious addiction.

  • Avoiding responsibilities — When worship gets in the way of going to work, taking care of family duties and maintaining relationships, and any other type of responsibility, it may be a problem.
  • Obsession with rules – Religions typically set out guidelines and rules to live by. Someone with a dangerous relationship to religion begins to follow these rules strictly, regardless of the consequences. He does not stop to question them, but simply adheres to the rules with a single-minded obsession. He may also spend hours thinking about interpretation of rules and what is considered to be a sin.
  • Financial problems — Someone with an unhealthy devotion to church may begin tithing beyond her means. She may spend money that she cannot afford on religious charities or on spiritual retreats.
  • Detachment from the real world — Being spiritual involves some sense of detachment from material goods, but for a religious addict, this may go to the extreme. Someone obsessing over religious beliefs may give up all his things and devote himself entirely to spiritual well-being.
  • Mood swings — If someone is addicted to religion, she may feel wildly happy and upbeat while in prayer or attending a service. On the other hand, if she cannot get to a service, her mood may swing down and she may mope and feel badly about herself.
http://www.elementsbehavioralhealth.com/behavioral-process-addictions/can-religion-be-an-addiction/

The interesting thing about religious addiction and work addicition is how these behaviors are perceived in society. Unlike drinking too much or being strung out on heroin we don't typically think of work or religion as having a destructive influence on the rest of one's life (cults aside, of course).

The other interesting neuro-chemical in addictive studies is dopamine and its role in both behavioral and substance addiction. This is where it becomes particularly fascinating -- the confluence of the chemicals we inject, ingest, or imbibe with the neuro-chemicals created in the brain, and our innate need to connect intimately in order to survive.

In certain areas of the brain when dopamine is released it gives one the feeling of pleasure or satisfaction (1). These feelings of satisfaction become desired, and the person will grow a desire for the satisfaction. To satisfy that desire the person will repeat behaviors that cause the release of dopamine (2). For example food and sex release dopamine (2). That is why people want food even though their body does not need it and why people sometimes need sex. These two behaviors scientifically make sense since the body needs food to survive, and humans need to have sex to allow the race to survive. However, other, less natural behaviors have the same effect on one's dopamine levels, and at times can even be more powerful. Often these behaviors can result in addiction due their effect on dopamine, and that addiction can have negative effects on a person's well-being. Two of such behaviors are
Cocaine is by far the more severe of the two in terms of addiction. Cocaine chemically inhibits the natural dopamine cycle. Normally, after dopamine is released, it is recycled back into a dopamine transmitting neuron. However, cocaine binds to the dopamine, and does not allow it to be recycled. Thus there is a buildup of dopamine, and it floods certain neural areas (3). The flood ends after about 30 minutes, and the person is left yearning to feel as he or she once did (3). That is how the addiction begins. Progressively a tolerance builds up due to the fact that the person is constantly trying to repeat the feeling that he or she had the first time (2). However, the person cannot, because dopamine is also released when something pleasurable yet unexpected occurs (4). After the first time, the person expects the effect, thus less dopamine is released, and the experience is less satisfying. This principal is the foundation of why gambling releases dopamine.
http://serendip.brynmawr.edu/bb/neuro/neuro05/web1/isiddiqui.html

Blanky
 

JustSheila

Crusader
:clap: :clap: :clap:

Thanks, Type4. This is really enlightening.

So much more precise than words like "holistic approach." lol

It's all about bonding. Wow.

What an eye-opener. The pieces are still falling in place for me.
 

Type4_PTS

Diamond Invictus SP
:clap: :clap: :clap:

Thanks, Type4. This is really enlightening.

So much more precise than words like "holistic approach." lol

It's all about bonding. Wow.

What an eye-opener. The pieces are still falling in place for me.


This author said some things I really didn't believe, but then followed them up with real life examples that were very convincing.

I'm seeing that his book has some great reviews as well:


Noam Chomsky:
"Wonderful. I couldn't put it down"

Elton John: "An absolutely stunning book. It will blow your mind, and blow you away"

Naomi Klein: "Superb journalism and thrilling story-telling"

Russell Brand: "Intoxicatingly thrilling ... It will change the drug debate forever"

Stephen Fry: "This book is, forgive the obvious phrase, screamingly addictive. The story it tells, jaw-droppingly horrific, hilarious and incredible, is one everyone should know: that is all true boggles the mind fascinated and infuriates by equal measure. Johann Hari, in brilliant prose, exposes one of the greatest and most harmful scandals of the past hundred years."

Glenn Greenwald: "Johann Hari's book is the perfect antidote to the war on drugs, one of the most under-discussed moral injustices of our time. It combines rigorous research and deeply human story-telling. It will prompt an urgently-needed debate."

Norm Stamper, former chief of the Seattle Police Department:
"
Johann Hari has written a drug policy reform book like no other. Many have studied, or conducted, the science surrounding the manifold ills of drug prohibition. But Hari puts it all into riveting story form, and humanises it ... It's a fascinating tale"

Professor David Nutt DM FRCP FRCPsych FMedSci, former chairman of the Advisory Committee on the Misuse of Drugs (ACMD) to the UK government:
"
In this energetic and thought-proving book Johann Hari harnesses the power of personal narrative to reveal the true causes and consequences of the War on Drugs"

http://www.amazon.com/Chasing-Screa...=2025&creative=165953&creativeASIN=1408857839
 

JustSheila

Crusader
I think the author nailed it.

It has been about ten years since medicine and counseling in Australia has emphasized the holistic approach, which means handling all of a person's needs, looking at their entire person, socially, physically, economically, spiritually. It has made a huge difference in Aged Care.

That's just a bit too big, though. Here, the author is precise, and there are behavioural experiments and human societies that have proven what she says is true, it's the bonding. the social contact.

We are social creatures. We cannot deny ourselves our natural needs. The denial leads to addiction to fill that big hole. Makes perfect sense and I've seen it plenty, too.

Awesome article. Best one I've read in a very long time. I really appreciate you posting it. :thumbsup:
 

sallydannce

Gold Meritorious Patron
Sally -
I knew and worked with a folks who identified as religiously addicted. I just did a quick search and some of the signs and symptoms are listed below. In looking at them one can't help but wonder if there are studies of the intersection between religious cults and religious addiction.


http://www.elementsbehavioralhealth.com/behavioral-process-addictions/can-religion-be-an-addiction/

The interesting thing about religious addiction and work addicition is how these behaviors are perceived in society. Unlike drinking too much or being strung out on heroin we don't typically think of work or religion as having a destructive influence on the rest of one's life (cults aside, of course).

The other interesting neuro-chemical in addictive studies is dopamine and its role in both behavioral and substance addiction. This is where it becomes particularly fascinating -- the confluence of the chemicals we inject, ingest, or imbibe with the neuro-chemicals created in the brain, and our innate need to connect intimately in order to survive.


http://serendip.brynmawr.edu/bb/neuro/neuro05/web1/isiddiqui.html

Blanky

Thanks for this Blanky. I'll sit down later and have a good read for sure.

The subject of attachment is relevant in all this. I explored attachment as a subject from various perspectives. Then I dug in and explored my own attachment style. The vulnerabilities lay there. The need to bond and the way it is achieved is, imo, variant depending on early attachment styles.

The need for intensity, attention, etc, seems to be a derivative of those early attachment needs being twisted or unmet to some degree. I loved all the attention one got in the cult (hey I ain't gonna hide in shame all my life, it happened, I'm trying to move on). I lacked stable attention, bonding, as a small child. I could write heaps about how this all worked for me but simply don't have the time. I was very vulnerable to unhealthy attachment and addictions. Please don't think I write about me-me-me all the time on some sort of attention-kick. I actually get very nervous when I get too much attention and want to hide. I understand myself in these areas - most of the time. I have a therapist who specialises in attachment work so have had the good fortune of going deep into how I tick in this regard.

People feel so healthy, so well, so energetic when they fall in love. Those heady days are full of bonding, attention, the oxytocin levels are roaring. The cognitive processing is altered, the cortisol levels, relaxed. The sense of belonging is powerful. Belonging is a key thing with addiction and breaking habits. Some of the sense of being lost after leaving the cult is losing that powerful sense of belonging. Why do some prisoners re-offend simply to get back into a prison? A sense of belonging. People stay in abusive relationships for similar reasons.

Naturally none of this is black and white and to fully understand self in these matters takes deep work. It wasn't as simple as reading something, having some sort of cognitive shift and woo hoo, all was resolved. It was moving through the range of emotions and behaviours that were induced and had been life-long patterns.

I am still working hard on an attachment thing that was totally fucked up by betrayal. I get a physiological change in certain situations which to most people is a "normal" situation but for me I have raging cortisol levels and want to run and hide in panic mode. Doing work in the head (cognitive work) only helps to some degree, understanding does help, but it is not the full story. To break deep habits, to re-wire responses, and to "master" internal physiological shifts takes a full-body awareness, in alignment with thoughts and being aware of what is going on. It gets back to "know thyself, love thyself". Four simple words which when walked (i.e. "walking the talk"), takes a lot of energy and commitment and takes one to places that aren't too thrilling to discover.

It would have been so much easier to stay in the cult and hide in the tunnel of delusions. Instead I jumped and violently assaulted every pattern, every response, and found myself in that place where there is that shitty untenable recognition that you have fucked up most of your adult life and now have to find a way out of the mess.

I was addicted to a cult but it could have been any number of other unhealthy self-destructive things.

I am not proof-reading this so if it doesn't make sense, I am responsible for that. :)
 
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Free Being Me

Crusader
I just read an article in the Huffington Post by Johann Hari, the author of 'Chasing the Scream: The First and Last Days of the War on Drugs' published just a week ago.

In the few minutes it took to read the article it completely changed my view on addictions, and how to help people with them. (not just addictions to drugs, but any addictions)

Here's an excerpt of the article:

A very interesting article well worth reading with insightfully meaningful information of value to everyone. I think this article ties in profoundly with sociologist Brene Brown regarding her researches into shame and worthiness. Thanks T4!
 

Type4_PTS

Diamond Invictus SP
From Johann Hari's website:

Join the Fight to End the Drug War

One hundred years after drugs were first banned, support for waging war on drugs is collapsing. In the United States, only one in five people now believe the drug war is worth the costs (read more). In Britain, only 26 percent believe “drugs should be illegal even if they are controlled by criminals.” (The Independent)

Wherever the alternatives have been tried – as ‘Chasing the Scream’ shows – they are working startlingly well, and almost nobody wants to go back.

This is an amazing opportunity for anybody who wants to get involved in this fight. If we act now, we can end a century-long war. We can save the lives of hundreds of thousands of people. It is in our power to achieve this, in our lifetimes. For example, ‘Chasing the Scream’ tells the story of Bud Osborn, a homeless street addict who started an uprising in Vancouver that within a decade had transformed the city’s drug policies, and raised average life expectancy in his neighborhood by ten years. If he can do it, anyone can.

All over the world, this fight has begun – and every year it is making startling progress.

If you would like to be kept informed of events and actions that you can take part in – either in person, or online – then please sign up to the mailing list here. If you are frustrated there aren’t more actions – arrange one and email me at [email protected] and if it sounds promising, I will let other people who’ve engaged with the book know and urge them to join in.

These are, in my opinion, the best organizations in the world fighting to end this war. Please support them, donate, sign up. I spoke with representatives of almost all of these organizations when writing the book and I can vouch for the excellence of their work:

<snip>

See Full Post: http://chasingthescream.com/getinvolved/

There's some other interesting things on his website including this:

I recently had an exchange of letters with Peter Hitchens, who is the most articulate exponent of drug prohibition I know. I wanted to try to persuade him, using everything I learned from the years I was researching ‘Chasing The Scream,’ that he is mistaken. An edited version of this exchange appeared in the Mail on Sunday last week; here is the full text of the letters.

http://chasingthescream.com/letters-with-peter-hitchens/
 

chipgallo

Patron Meritorious
:clap:I paid $10 to read Johann Hari's book, "Chasing the Scream: The First and Last Days of the War on Drugs [Kindle Edition]." ESMB writers do a huge service by connecting others up to this kind of material. I am about 40% completed with the book and it is changing my perception of the so-called War on Drugs as well as shifting my views on addiction.

Hubbard grew up in the period where drugs like pot and the opiates were being demonized, lead essentially by one man (Anslinger). It must have greatly influenced him and that bias is reflected in concepts he forwarded such as "the biochemical personality" as defined in the Purification Rundown bulletins. NARCONON forwards that agenda. Luckily for all of us, these sham ideas are being exposed for what they are.
 

DeeAnna

Patron Meritorious
Addiction. Always a fascinating subject. The name of this author sounded familiar to me.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Johann_Hari

He's had some serious charges of plagiarism and unethical behavior leveled against him in the past. For which he has apparently apologized profusely.

His past mistakes may not be relevant to this book. But it is always best to know who's doing the writing.
 

Type4_PTS

Diamond Invictus SP
Addiction. Always a fascinating subject. The name of this author sounded familiar to me.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Johann_Hari

He's had some serious charges of plagiarism and unethical behavior leveled against him in the past. For which he has apparently apologized profusely.

His past mistakes may not be relevant to this book. But it is always best to know who's doing the writing.


I ran across these allegations back when I posted the OP and clearly he crossed some ethical boundaries in the past, and he did acknowledge that.

I didn't mention it as I felt it wasn't relevant to this book. Hari seems to have done enough to regain the respect of some of the veteran journalists in the UK.

But for those who don't trust him (understandably), he's released full audio recordings for sources he interviewed for this book. So you can actually hear what is being said to him. I listened to a number of them myself, just out of curiosity. They're available on his website over here:
http://chasingthescream.com/interviews-2/
 

chipgallo

Patron Meritorious
I finished the book yesterday. My cousin wants to follow up on some of Mr. Hari's references due to the issue(s) mentioned in the author's past. There is too much at stake to ramble down the same old "war on drugs" path without considering potentially more rewarding and humane alternatives.
 

Teanntás

Silver Meritorious Patron
I just read an article in the Huffington Post by Johann Hari, the author of 'Chasing the Scream: The First and Last Days of the War on Drugs' published just a week ago.

In the few minutes it took to read the article it completely changed my view on addictions, and how to help people with them. (not just addictions to drugs, but any addictions)

Here's an excerpt of the article:

I've put this book on my reading list, also the book MAD IN AMERICA which I found referenced here https://vimeo.com/4960044 - quite an interesting video.

Here's a recent article from the LA TIMES which shows the crisis we're in in relation to mental health. A new paradigm is desperately needed.

http://www.latimes.com/local/great-reads/la-me-c1-mentally-ill-son-20150413-story.html#page=2
 

Teanntás

Silver Meritorious Patron
I've put this book on my reading list, also the book MAD IN AMERICA which I found referenced here https://vimeo.com/4960044 - quite an interesting video.

Here's a recent article from the LA TIMES which shows the crisis we're in in relation to mental health. A new paradigm is desperately needed.

http://www.latimes.com/local/great-reads/la-me-c1-mentally-ill-son-20150413-story.html#page=2

I just finished reading Chasing the Scream | The First and Last Days of the War on Drugs. I ask you all, "Is any Cult more "backward, heartless, disastrous" than this 'War on Drugs"

http://www.ted.com/talks/ethan_nadelmann_why_we_need_to_end_the_war_on_drugs?language=en#t-37199
 

AnonyMary

Formerly Fooled - Finally Free
Because of my Narconon efforts, I deal on a daily basis with people who either have or have loved ones who have addiction issues. It's been very busy this past year and while I may have an opinion right now based upon the little I read of the book, I am not going to comment until I have some uninterrupted time to read the book, look at all the issues and factor in what I have come to know and learn. Then I'll post a comment on it.
 

Type4_PTS

Diamond Invictus SP
While searching for something else I happened to come across a TED Talk done last summer by the author of this book, so posting it here:

[video=youtube;PY9DcIMGxMs]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PY9DcIMGxMs[/video]
 
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