Understanding AddictionDrugs/Alcohol/Pornography/Gambling/Eating Disorders

The 2-Part Brain

Survival Emotions

Moral/Reasoning Thoughts

Limbic SystemInstincts, Memory & Emotion

Basic Instincts:Air, Food, Water, Procreation

Prime Directive: Survival Avoiding Pain Seeking Pleasure

No shame - No guilt – No morals – No values

Limbic SystemInstincts, Memory, & Emotion

Some suggest that 90-95% of our behavior is automatic and comes from the subconscious Limbic regions of our brain.

Frontal CortexThoughts, Meaning, & Morals

• Higher Functions: Reasoning & Meaning• Rational & Logical• Morals/Values: Right & Wrong • Caring about relationships• Guilt/Remorse• Consequences

How Addiction Develops

In our brain, we have 1 quadrillion connections . . .

#1 Addiction Neurochemical : Dopamine (DA)

• All drugs of abuse and potential compulsive behaviors release Dopamine

• Dopamine is at the heart of all reinforcing experiences

• DA is the neurochemical of salience (it signals survival importance)

• DA signals reward prediction error• Tells the brain this is “better than expected”

#2 Addiction Neurochemical : Glutamate (Glu)

• The most abundant neurochemical in the brain• Critical in memory formation & consolidation• All drugs of abuse and many addicting behaviors

effect Glutamate which preserves drug memories and creates drug cues

• And … glutamate is the neurochemical of “motivation” (it initiates drug seeking)

The Flash Flood Effectof Dopamine & Glutamate

Flash Flood Effect on Brain

• Frontal Lobe Hijacked (lose moral reasoning)• Stimulation>Survival (feel like we will die w/o it)• Raises Thermostat (depression & despair)• Damages Neuropathways (creates brain disease)•Relationships (distorted)• Event is Deeply Imbedded (remembered forever)

Frontal Lobe Functions Get Hijacked(disrupting moral and consequential reasoning)

Reasoning & MeaningRational & Logical

Morals/ValuesRight & WrongCaring about relationships

Guilt/RemorseConsequences

Stimulation > Survival

Primary Function of the Limbic System:

1. SurvivalAvoiding PainSeeking Pleasure

Stimulation > Survival

Primary Function of the Limbic System:

1. Drug/Porn Stimulation2. Survival

Avoiding PainSeeking Pleasure

Raises the Pleasure Thermostat

PleasureThermostat

Raises the Pleasure Thermostat

NewPleasure

Thermostat

“Once is too much, and a thousand times is never enough.” Why?

Damages Neuropathways Creating A Brain Disease

The MedicalDisease Model

(a CAUSAL model)

Distorts theFunction of Relationships

• Human beings are objectified (viewed as mere objects)• Love is replaced by lust• Meaningful relationships are over-run by cyber fantasies• Promotes isolation• Leaves basic human relational needs unfulfilled

Event is Deeply Imbedded in the Memory

“Pornographic or erotic stories and pictures are worse than filthy or polluted food. The body has defenses to rid itself of unwholesome food. With a few fatal exceptions, bad food will only make you sick but do not permanent harm. In contrast, a person who feasts upon filthy stories or pornographic or erotic pictures and literature , records them in this marvelous retrieval system we call a brain. The brain won’t vomit back filth. Once recorded, it will always remain subject to recall, flashing its perverted images across your mind and drawing you away from the wholesome things in life” (Elder Dallin H. Oaks, Liahona, May 2005).

Goal: Change Behavior and Nature

The change in your behavior will largely be determined by a commitment to small and simple actions that are repeated each day for an extended period of time.

A change in our nature (through Christ) happens each time we feel the Spirit: “The only change that really matters is a change of heart. Every other change alters us cosmetically, but not fundamentally. It changes the way we appear, but not who we are. In the end, if we don’t make that change, it will not matter what other changes we have chosen” (C. Terry Warner, Bonds, 00.2).