Addiction: 9 Causes and Cures
Addiction For Dummies
In the mainstream media’s portrayal, your personality is a construct governed by a matrix of chemicals. Addiction is a deficit caused by an imbalance in the chemical cocktail that is you. Look no further than the cover story Time magazine put on newsstands in summer 2007, How We Get Addicted. We read it, so you don’t have to. The premise:
We think there’s more to addiction than this physical, reductionist view. Time’s view is that humans are little more than complex chemistry sets. Our view is that the chemicals within us are merely a subset of deeper forces. Do you believe that things like chemicals, chairs and cars are the fundamental denizens of the universe, or that a force we call consciousness gives rise to the forms we see in the world?Armed with an array of increasingly sophisticated technology, including fMRIs and PET scans, investigators have begun to figure out exactly what goes wrong in the brain of an addict–which neurotransmitting chemicals are out of balance and what regions of the brain are affected. They are developing a more detailed understanding of how deeply and completely addiction can affect the brain, by hijacking memory-making processes and by exploiting emotions. Using that knowledge, they’ve begun to design new drugs that are showing promise in cutting off the craving that drives an addict irresistibly toward relapse–the greatest risk facing even the most dedicated abstainer.
NEXT: Big Pharma’s Prescription
Addiction is also a way of avoiding change.
I would love to print out this entire series but am having trouble with some of the links that aren’t live. Is there a way to do this?
I also would love to see the videos mentioned. Are they available?