Do you find yourself struggling with addiction? If so, it’s important to know that you’re not alone in this journey. If not, read on. You may find that you are engaging in addictive behavior and didn’t even know it.
Last week, I wrote to you about the role that dopamine plays in our lives.
Anna Lembke (pronounced Lihm-key) explores this topic in her groundbreaking book Dopamine Nation: Finding balance in the Age of Indulgence. She explains the way the human body creates a chemical called dopamine. This chemical plays a crucial role in the development of addictions. Adding to that is this fact, says Lemke, is this revelation, “[O]ne of the most remarkable neuroscientific findings in the past century is that the brain processes pleasure and pain in the same place. Further, pleasure and pain work like opposite sides of a balance.”
As I mentioned last week, dopamine inspires feelings of accomplishment when we achieve our goals. And when our brains are working well, pleasure and pain work in harmony. Our unique wiring allows pleasure to sustain us through essential activities like eating, drinking, reproducing, and working. At the same time, pain helps protect us from harm. However, left unchecked, dopamine can fan the flames of desire, causing us to seek pleasure and avoid pain. If we are not careful, this can disrupt our balance and easily tip us into addiction.
What is Addiction?
In Dopamine Nation, Lembke defines addiction as “…the continued and compulsive consumption of a substance or behavior… despite its harm to self and/or others.” Addictions do not have to be related to anything inherently bad. (She herself developed an addiction at one point to reading romance novels—seriously.) We can become addicted to things that are good and healthy—but when consumed excessively, they can be detrimental.
We all know abuse of alcohol can be an addiction, but so can playing video games. Good mental and emotional health requires our brains to strike a balance between our desire to experience pleasure and avoid pain. Dopamine can help us in that delicate balancing act. But, when we start to crave the dopamine “high,” we may develop an addiction in our quest for pleasure. Similarly, the wish to escape the pain following the pursuit of fun—such as feeling depressed—can foster an addiction as well.
To illustrate this further, a vicious cycle can form that complicates the experience of someone with an addiction. For example, a person can like how he feels when he drinks alcohol. It gives him pleasure, so he drinks more to receive more pleasure. However, once sober, feelings of anxiety or depression may set in. He might think, “I’ll drink more to feel better.” This sets off a negative feedback loop that can lead to addiction—it started as a means to medicate the aftermath of his last drinking session, as well as to seek pleasure.
This problem is not restricted to alcohol consumption. Consider a young person who receives a smartphone from her parents. She begins texting friends, emailing, and receiving emails, as well as subscribing to social media. Before long, she hears relentless pinging, sounding like the ringing of a bell, from her phone. That sound does not signify that “another angel has received his wings.” No, it is a notification that she has received a new email, text message, or other message. Her heart leaps. Before long, she is on her phone again, neglecting conversations with her family and falling behind on homework. Then it is bedtime. The high is over. She feels empty. She feels pain. She gets back on her phone. More pings whet her appetite. Before long, it registers on her that the time is 2:00 A.M. She will need to get up in a few hours for school. She sleeps fitfully and gets up the next day feeling exhausted until she hears the ping of her phone. It triggers her emotions, and her heart begins to race again.
Is this a good way for her to live?
Remember, pleasure and pain are two sides of the same coin. Maintaining the necessary balance between them can be challenging, and sometimes we need to reset. Next week, we will discuss how to reboot when life gets out of whack–especially regarding addiction, whether that addiction is related to smartphones, cocaine, romance novels, exercise, eating, starving, or anything else.
To repeat, the exclusive description of dopamine is NOT that it drives addictions to harmful things; it can also fuel our connection to things that are fundamentally good, as long as we keep our balance in check.
Here’s what I’d like you to take away from our conversation today:
1. The ability to define addiction.
2. Understand the delicate balance between pleasure and pain.
3. Recognize the role dopamine plays in living productive lives
4. Be cautious of dopamine-increasing consumptive behavior.
Want good advice on how to deal with dopamine? Read next week. We will delve deeper into this subject, focusing on the challenge of living in an age of abundance. We will explore how abundance can disrupt our management of dopamine and how this can lead to excessive consumption. And Anna Lemke’s practical advice may surprise you.
Mark
Dr. Mark Edge
The WorkEdge Company
Telephone: 903-245-7851
Email: workedgetexas@gmail.com
Website: www.workedgetexas.com
Author of Holy Chaos How To Walk with God in a Frenzied World