wnyc.org / 93.9fm / am 820

Incredibly insightful and interesting program by airing the painful honesty of the addicts seeking recovery. I have never known an addictive person to get sober or straight without self honesty. As public programming on radio and TV introduce the realities of addiction to the general public it is glaring to me how under the cover the family, friends and loved ones journeys are by not being addressed directly to the disease. There are 12 step programs for those affected by the alcoholics/addicts. The beauty of the program for the non-user is it introduces the responsibility for their participation in the disease and tools to learn to live in a healthier way for themselves.

Regarding the earlier question about addiction and evolution, I would offer the following.

Asked in another way, the question is whether there is something intrinsically adaptive about addition that enables its persistence across generations. The parts of the brain that are known to be engaged in the addictive process are very old, primitive parts of our nervous system. They have served us well: stengthening reward-seeking behaviors(for food, sex, etc) that are utterly essential for our survival and fecundity as a species. From a Drawinian view, there is no selection pressure against these behaviors, so if there is a genetic component to addiction, it would have been carried along over time. Our brains were designed to function this way as an evolutionary advantage and this system, regrettably, can be usurped by a variety of "drugs" that feed into/stimulate these reward systems inappropriately. In a way, we are victims of our own success.

I see a chemical and genetic element involved in some addictive behavior. The effect of dopamine levels and functions of the hypothalamus affect certain addictive behavior. This is the region of the brain related to addiction and dopamine is one of the major hormones.

People with Parkinson's Disease who take mirapex which effected dopamine levels developed addiction shopping, gambling, eating and sexual addictions.

Wikipedia links:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dopamine
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hypothalamus

Link discussing law suits over addictive behavior due to use of mirapex (affects dopamine levels):

http://injury-law.freeadvice.com/drug-toxic_chemicals/miraprex-lawsuit.htm

How about addiction to religion?
Could the W have replaced his addiction to chemicals with an addition to religion -- his own escape from responsible rational problem-solving thought.

I was addicted to food, bulimic, and it took me 5 years to stop and start growing out of it. there is a genetic pre disposition and there is also your past. whatever pushed me to find emotional satisfaction outside myself is what made me look into something like food. when there is a disconnection between our brain and our soul and nobody was there to guided us, is very easy to cross the easier door. the one that end up been the most dificult one.

John Ehrenfeld in Sustainability by Design has talked about addiction to unhealthy practices which are rooted in our culture. Do your guests see former addicts who have been able to make a change in personal habits, as helping provide models for those of us just trying to change our habits for the sake of a healthier planet? Potential prophets of our time?

is this author or your guests concerned about breaking anonymity?

one of the traditions of AA is to "maintain anonymity at the level of press, radio and film."

im sure there are many members of anonymous fellowships that are concerned about this aspect of mass media conversations on addictions.

its a fine line between propagating the shame that comes along w seeking help for addiction and maintaining the integrety of 12-step fellowships as a "safe space".

thank you for this careful conversation

Can you ask these people how they feel about breaking the tradition of Anonymity?

This may be topic for another show but:

Darwin never knew about genes or DNA, he writes about "Habits" that are passed down. This whole discussion is about materialism versus what I'll call "energyism"
This idea of if we only re-arrange the material that makes up our physical being all can be fixed. I don't think the evidence is there.
I think we need to redefine disease and addiction.
D

In my journey of self awareness I have found most everything can fall into the title of "bad habit". I found it a lot more empowering than feeling like a victim and being treated as such. and i agree that we all "get by with a little help from our friends", until we can start to build our own roots and be able to then give back...

How long does one have to participate in an activity for it to be labeled addictive?
Some people exercise a lot... etc

You know, a higher power offers us a bit of humility and that's not such a bad thing.

Don't you two think its odd that the only program that has worked for you is the step program....higher power based?????

Don't fix what is not broken; be glad you found something. And if you still have questions, don't look "above" - look inside!

Can you ask the doctor about addiction from an evolutionary psychology perspective? What are some of the theories for the existence of addiction?

Thanks.

Sorry I've got 20+ years, no heroin, no alcohol, no nuthin, in that time, with ONE program. Narcotics Anonymous tells us we are powerless over our ADDICTIONS not a substance.
If it worked for me that is truth at least as far as I am experiencing it.
David

i was hoping this was about our oil addiction

Perhaps this was covered earlier in the segment (I tuned in during the middle), but I'm wondering if there has been research into a possible connection between addictions and stress? Are addictions a behavioral response to stress?

Thanks for the helpful segment.

Addiction is such a loaded word juse like depression and anxiety. We often use the terms loosely. Psychiatry doesn't even use the word addiction in diagnoses. They use "substance abuse" and "substance dependence".

More often than not, addiction is defined after-the-fact. If you can't stop a behavior through a genuine effort with will power in spite of adverse consequences in continuing the behavior, then, after-the-fact, you are an addict.

I think 12-step programs, centered on the notion of powerlessness (very much in the mindset of a disease model) and reaching to others for help, is the best model for treating what we define as addictions. Despite having an addiction, the addict has a choice to attend a meeting or call a sponsor.

When we expect an addict to get rid of the behavior, we ask too much. We must expect an addict to reach out for help at every instance s/he is tempted. We can hold addicts for failure to do that.

Don't judge by result - judge by effort to reach out for help.

To claim an addiction to food is absurd. We are ALL addicted to food, just as we are all "addicted" to oxygen. The substances that make up addiction are things we can live without. Cigarettes, alcohol, drugs, etc, are all addictive.

Issues with food are different. While much of the same language can be used to "recover" from food issues, and the support system of 12 steps can help tremendously, it's just not the same thing. And, by diluting the term "addiction", we drain it of true meaning.

Is there any truth to the addictive gene? or is that a myth?

I've been "addicted" (ie, used on a daily basis, got cranky when I didn't get it) to both amphetamine and coffee and I think you are creating some crass distinctions when you say the later has "no negative consequences", assuming (as we all know) that of course the former does have some potential "negative consqeuences".
I think there are "negative consequences" to simply USING either substance, and that these may compound in ADDICTION.
You guys sound a lot like you are just deploying status quo methadologies to get research money from people who want a new way of saying the same old platitudes.