Mental Health The Addiction Hijacked Mind, (and salvaging whats left)

deroxor

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For people who become drug addicts, the drug experience — the substance, but the entire “scene” too — is not only unforgettable but indelibly etched into the physiological brain circuitry that drives us onward through the obstacle course of existence.

And much of that memory is false. Because all addictive drugs appear to share a rather mysterious property: They’re “better than the real thing.” Better, that is, than the real things our reward circuitry was designed by evolution to reward: food, sleep, sex, friendship, novelty, etc. And better, even, than they were the last time around. At least, it sure seems that way to the addict.

About 25 million Americans are addicted to drugs (including alcohol but excluding nicotine), about the same number as those who have diabetes. But wanting a drug — really, seriously craving it — doesn’t mean you have to like it. “That’s a big part of the problem of addiction,” says Malenka, the Nancy Friend Pritzker Professor in the Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences. Malenka was among the first investigators to home in on the molecular details of just how the mechanisms involved in memory and learning are hijacked by drugs of abuse.

Addictive drugs mimic natural rewards such as food and sex by kindling a network of brain areas collectively called the reward circuitry, which is responsible for enjoyment — which if you think about it, is an important survival response. It gets us to do more of the kinds of things that keep us alive and lead to our having more offspring: food-seeking and ingestion, hunting and hoarding, selecting a mate and actually mating.

Moreover, addictive drugs fire up the reward circuitry in a way that natural rewards can’t — by, in a sense, pressing a heavy thumb down on the scale of pleasure. Over time, the desire for the drug becomes more important than the pleasure the addict gets from it. By the time the thrill is gone, long-lasting changes may have occurred within key regions of the brain.

The brain is a little bit like the big snarl of tangled wires snaking their way out of that six-outlet surge protector behind your bed. They know where they’re going, even if you don’t. Nerve cells (or neurons, as scientists call them) can be seen as hollow wires transmitting electrical currents down long cables called axons to other neurons.

Addiction was once defined in terms of physical symptoms of withdrawal, such as nausea and cramps in the case of heroin or delirium tremens in the case of alcohol, which reflect physiological changes within cells of an addict’s body. It’s now seen as changes in brain circuits, or combinations of neurons; in other words, the very neurophysiological changes that result from learning and experience. You crave, seek and use a pernicious drug again and again because you have a memory of it being more wonderful than anything else, and because your brain has been rewired so that, when exposed to anything that reminds you of the drug, you will feel rotten if you don’t get some.

“These are symptoms of a brain disease, not a mere weakness of will,” Malenka says. He and other researchers are working to understand addiction as a sum of behavioral consequences of changes within nerve cells that occur with repeated drug use. Over time, these subcellular changes alter the strength of connections in the circuit, essentially hardwiring the yen for drugs into a habitual craving that is easily reignited not only by the drugs but also by environmental cues — people, places, things and situations associated with past drug use — even when the addict hasn’t been anywhere near the drug or the drug scene for months or years.
http://stanmed.stanford.edu/2012spring/article5.html

Sorry if this isnt the right forum, because the Media likes to say Addiction is a Disease..... but I personally believe it is more of a Mental Handicapp like Tourrette Syndrome, or Bi-Polar disorder

But as i am working on my Recovery, well-being, and freedom/control from addiction, I am wanting to learn more about not only the Mind-structure of an Addict, but alternative Coping skills that hopefully isnt resorting to Finding a new addiction, or switching to a different Poison.
And by Bringing up this topic, i can hopefully open the eyes of the younger people who dont fully realise what they are doing to their bodies, soo they can maybe change their actions a bit soo they dont have to end up like me.

But as for me, i will shed some light with a little background information, and problems with my mental health
I am now 25 years old, light skinned, Jamaican Male. I have been Officially Diagnosed with Mild Depression and Insomnia, to which I currently take the following Medication for; 10mg of Cirpalex©(ESCITALOPRAM) an SSRI that works great as my anti-depression/anti-anxiety medication, and 50mg of Seroquel©(QUETIAPINE FUMARATE) as my sleeping medication. Also i am currently in the Methadone Program, i have been for almost 2 years and i ingest 110mls of Methadone Daily, and ive been comfortable at that dose for almost a year.
Ive been to N/A and A/A but the 12 Steps, Finding a Sponsor, and the whole we are powerless against drugs thing isnt for me, and I believe that i will be able to conquer my demons on my own with, especially in the right environment.
I have an addictions counselor i go see on a regular weekly basis, shes the only person i can talk to about everything going on in my and to vent or let out all the things i cant tell my family and she also helps me view myself in a different outlook, she is also GREAT for getting A second opinion.

But last time i went to see her, she pointed out a flaw in my efforts for a successful Recovery, and that was now that i have quit everything (aside from methadone) Which was me not having a constructive, legitimate, non-harmfull way of Coping with Stress....
And lately the Stress has been negatively impacting my life more than my depression has in the past few months.

I literally can only come up with one method, in my head, of Dealing/Coping/Relieving My stress at this moment, and im pretty laid back right now, soo i can only imagine if i was stressed out, and not thinking clearly, my mental gaurd would be down and it would be alot easier for me to make a mistakes or slack off n let things slide under my ethic radar.

From the age of 14 I ive been (unknowingly up untill recent years) Transforming my brain, changing my thinking patterns and slowly but ever so surely have developing my own brain&mind into that of your regular everyday full blown Addict..... By Using & Abusing various substances for pleasure or entertainment, to cure boredom and as hobbies, To cope with Stress and Depression, Anger and Frustration, Also to Socially Fit-In with others or build up my Ego and Self Esteem.

When i first discovered drugs, and started using&abusing them, I viewed them as my everything!!! Drugs where all i could think about, or talk about, care about..... All I used to in my "Newbie Days" was find out about new psychoactive chemicals i have yet to experience, then i would Research the hell out of it, and finally go out and hit the mean streets on a Hunt for what i wanted.

it seemed soo innocent really, aside from the sketchy people and transactions i have unfortunately been involved in, But i was really that Naive and clueless as to the Long-Term Effects substances would have on such a young growing mind.

and here i am now, seeking knowledge and advice on strategies to stay sober on the website that taught me everything that i know about drugs. I find that a tiny bit Ironic :\

But the solution to my recovery is approaching me, and soon I will be migrating out of this small drug infested town i am living in right now, where there isnt much to do other than get high, and i will be moving to the big city where i get to start living with a clean slate, and the opportunities for work and success are all within my reach.

its just staying clean and surviving stress free untill then is going to be the biggest battle.
 
I think fleeing youthful lust's such as drug abuse is a Perfect way to start over.....I know if I had moved to TN from where I live I wouldn't of got into all the drug's again like I did when I started to to do downers because my anxiety was so high from OCD. I have to be on medication for all the disorders I have and some of those med's really make me happy. So while your dealing with stress and hoping not to relapse. I'm wishing I didn't have AdHD to pop a ritalin or anxiety so I have to take my klonopin. One thing I have learned tho is, If I don't take the med's right. I will be hurting for a week or maybe more because I carelessly took to much and have to go thru withdrawal. Why? do I allow myself to get sucked into that trap? I think it's in every human that we have this make up that we where made for something greater then what we are....And thus turning to drug's seems at the time the key to gaining that power.......I know 7 years ago when I quit meth cold turkey cause I was called to preach. I had no withdrawals. I would have craving's but i would stay away from people who do it. And, by that I see your making the right move to celibacy of drug's. Anything can make you relapse and it's good to see that your staying one up on your mind rather then letting your urge to get away thru drug use get to you.
 
I think the book "In the realm of hungry Ghosts" by Gabor Maté might be of interest to you.
 
I think the book "In the realm of hungry Ghosts" by Gabor Maté might be of interest to you.

Ooh, would you care to elaborate or Explain some of the content in this book??

Paraphrase A Favorite Quote, Sentence, Paragraph perhaps?? Just trying to Expand my knowledge on this condition, i had no idea, i was imprinting onto myself.

Completing a goal, Winning, Creating or achievments dont really make me feel the way im "apparently" supposed to...... but im almost positive that when i witnessed the new Grand Theft Auto 5 trailer Gratification was definately there.... what gives?
 
Are you a spiritual person perhaps? I ask because the spiritual side of things seems to give many struggling addicts a lot of strength, often being the decisive factor when overcoming addiction. You don't have to adhere to any religion or anything either if you don't dig those, you can just try to find where your own beliefs about the universe lie and keep it personal. If you get good at that stuff, you might find that it transforms into a almost drug-like experience. I find that this works like magic for a particular type of people at least, but it could potentially help you cope with all the negative stuff like depression, stress and anxiety. I recommend checking out "Maybe Logic", a movie about the ideas of Robert Anton Wilson. In a way, it talks about this very same thing.

You can get your brain to believe pretty much anything, the hard part is merely convincing yourself and in a way, many addicts have convinced themselves that the drugs are the answer for everything, a bit like religion actually.
 
I guess you could say im a spiritual person, that being an Agnostic and having my own believes i came to gain after my mind was opened in a very powerfull psychedelic shroom trip as a teenager, and basically Saw where im going when i die.

but thats basically it, All my beliefs, Ethics, Morals, and Standards where either touched, Shaped, and even Created from substances ive come across in my journey as a Avid Psychonaught.

Drugs have taken me to Heaven, and Hell........ And to Hell Alot. I Would Say Im Embarassed or Ashamed of myself, But Id be lying, because whatever Moral Shame i used to feel as a young teenager, has been trampled and rewritten by my addictions, and experiences as a Stoner, Shroomer, E-Tard, Hippyflipping, Battery(Acid)Head, Coke-Head, Drunk, Crack Smoking, Pill Poppin, Heroin Shooting, SpeedBallin, Gack Head..... Yes, All Addictions, All in that Order.

My Depression stems from starting Realising what we as humans really are, (or maybe my mothers untimely demise at the push of a syringe?? who knows lol) And what we are doing to this World + the creatures in it, and wondering why should i continue living as a self descructive human, in a Society that Dictates a list of what i should and shouldnt be doing to benifit humanity, with humanity being the worst plague on this planet, coupled with the Belief that Death is a new Begining, and an End to "Human Nature" stress, and emotions i feel i am burdened with.

Im Starting to go back to A/A & N/A but i dont buy the whole being Powerless and accepting God as an entity to save me. Even though I do realise that at this stage in addiction, i am powerless, but i have way better control on my Impulses and planning ahead, While using responsibility as an intervention To making impulsively bad decisions.

All I Know is drugs, Ive been going from one addiction to the other, progressivley, and although Some where worse than others, Its allways the need to alter something, i do not like about myself...... and lately ive been working soo hard at liking and careing about myself, im kind of all out of excuses at this point.

If it wasnt for Drugs, id just be another Sheep, Brain plugged into Society like the matrix, Close minded while believing in total absolutes..... another financially stable, smugg young patzee with his head stuck up his ass.... and as bad as that sounds to me now, when i think about that financially stable bit, it doesnt actually sound that bad..........
 
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I think the book "In the realm of hungry Ghosts" by Gabor Maté might be of interest to you.

I'm getting ready to read this book. I've been reading two of his others; one on Stress and the Body and the other is about ADHD. I'm curious about addictions to EVERYTHING...not just drugs. How the brain suffers through all of pleasures, rewards, from drugs, gambling, sex, internet forums....whatever we as humans do to excess and cause Negative changes in behavior. When I searched the topic it brought me to this thread...so I hope to add as I read and think about addiction in general.
 
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