What is going on in my brain? What is the chemical mechanism? Why cant I just tell my brain to stop craving the substance? Why is the addiction removing all of my inhibitions?
This is hell.
In: Biology
You know how, as a kid, you love going outside to play? With addiction you need to go a little further every time because if you always go just as far it gets boring.
Eventually, you go so far that when you look back you can’t see your home even though you still know the way back.
Unfortunately, for too many, they go so far from home to play they forget their way home. Sometimes these people find a different way home, and sometimes they don’t. When they’re far away from home they start believing they’ll never make it back so they may as well keep playing, or that people don’t even want them to come back even though they do.
Addiction is like playing. Some people just never want to stop having fun even though they need to rest, and it becomes the sole focus in their life.
This is why we have to make children do the things they don’t want to because otherwise they do only what they want. Addiction is similar, you can’t always do the thing you want, and sometimes it’s better if you never do it at all. (Side note: probably a good justification for never giving children even a taste of soda, or ice cream, and the like because they end up always wanting it. You have to explain why it’s bad though because “I said so” doesn’t work.)
Because the person that likes the thing and the person trying to get them to stop are the same. It’s a conflict of interest. One of them is constantly sabotaging the other to get what they feel like they need, so it’s a cycle that’s very hard to break but very easy to get back into.
You basically have to give the addicted side other things to get joy from so that you don’t relapse, and that can be difficult.
Because addiction taps into the old and subconscious parts of our brain. This part of the brain is all about survival, habit formation, and it all happens automatically.
Its the same part of the brain that makes it hard for us to avoid bad foods, or to keep going to the gym consistently, or insert any bad habit. But with addiction, its all ramped up x1000. These drugs are signaling to that old part of the brain that what you are taking is more important than anything, for your survival and for your benefit. So all of your thoughts and efforts begin to revolve around getting that drug again. It creates a chemical cocktail in you that no experience can compete with.
This old part of the brain is really the part that’s in charge of us, whether we are addicted to something or not. And its why we can rationally know something is terrible for us, yet feel powerless to change our behaviors. Drug addicts know, using the newer parts of the brain, that this drug is the absolute worst thing for them, but they simply are unable to stop. Will power is basically a myth if you talk to neuroscientists.
I read a book that ended up stopping my 15 year smoking habit – ‘This Naked Mind: Nicotine’ (it’s on libgen if you wanna try before you buy). The original This Naked Mind is about alcohol, and came highly recommended, but since I didn’t have a drinking problem, but did smoke, I read the nicotine one instead. Haven’t had one for 2 years now.
I highly recommend reading the whole thing, but let me paraphrase part of it about the mechanics of cravings;
The book delves into the steps involved in craving. It starts with the thought. You can’t stop yourself thinking about smoking – seeing it in film, someone at the pub etc – but the trick is to halt your brain before it progresses to the next step – imagining about what it will feel like to take a drag on a cigarette.
I can’t remember exactly how, but I found I was able to stop myself before the fantasising, I think by focussing on thinking about a hobby, plans for the evening etc. Just a jolt away from the process of imagining the smoke hitting my throat, then my lungs etc. If you can stop that process in its tracks, dealing with the cravings became *significantly* easier.
You may not be talking about nicotine, so that advice may or may not relate.
You do something, you get a reward for it (reward is pleasure of any kind in this topic)
You want another reward so you do it again
This time the reward either isnt there or isnt as great.
You try it again and again and finally get the reward.
Now you know how to do it and want the reward once again
Eventually you get the reward so much that it doesnt feel like a reward and thats why you need it to feel normal.
It’s like edging for your brain
Try to get devices that prevent you from consuming these substances, for example if it’s nicotine you can get a timed lockbox and make it basically impossible to get without breaking the box, it keeps that substance away from you, out of sight, out of mind, and slowly try to ween off of it. Start with an hour, go to two hours, go to four hours, it’ll be a hard and long journey but a lot of addiction can also be behavioral. If you go to a rehab clinic they can help sort out a behavioral addiction problem which makes chemical addiction worse. If you have extenuating circumstances in your life that are causing you grief, that is also a focal point for addiction. These substances relieve that grief for a moment but it will make everything worse over time. If you have problems outside of addiction, those need to be addressed as well. Addiction is not an isolated disease, it’s connected to everything in your life, and also, you should distance yourself or establish boundaries with people if they also use this substance, like recovering alcoholics are often suggested that they shouldn’t be around people drinking because of impulsive decision making.
EDIT: Don’t be ashamed to seek help. It’s better to be temporarily embarrassed than suffer the consequences of addiction.
If your brain gets used to receiving something from outside that it usually makes on its own, it will eventually stop making it. This is called downregulation. This happens because the brain doesn’t want to waste resources making something that’s already there in large amounts.
If the outside supply suddenly stops, the brain won’t have enough of it, leading to problems. The brain then has to re-learn how to make it on its own, which can be a slow and difficult process, especially if you relied heavily on that substance for daily activities.
This adjustment period can cause many problems, such as mood swings, anxiety, changes in appetite, and sleep issues, making it hard to stop craving the substance.
Everyone here is spot on in their statements about the positive reinforcement effect of dopamine, but I haven’t seen anyone touch on the punishment aspect of withdrawal from substances— taking the substance will typically feel less good over time as your body develops tolerance, but *not* taking a substance that your body has become habituated to feels really, really terrible (and is sometimes so terrible that it’s physically dangerous.) I creeped on OP’s post history & it looks like their substance of choice is THC, which has slightly fewer physiological “hooks” for withdrawal than a substance like alcohol or opiates, but there’s still some specific withdrawal symptoms: irritability, anxiety, insomnia, decreased appetite, restlessness, depression, etc. Experiencing those symptoms will cause your brain to scream, “you know how to make this stop!”, triggering increased cravings and keeping you stuck in a vicious cycle. It can especially be hard to stop when you have co-occurring mental health challenges like anxiety or depression, because withdrawal can exacerbate those symptoms.
This is what I tell people. People become addicted to something because it becomes fun for them more than anything else. Damn the consequences. Instant gratification. Chasing the dragon.
TL;DR the body wants to maintain a constant state (homeostasis). When you get excess dopamine (e.g., from booze), you have fun for the moment. However, the body says, “whoa, that was TOO much fun — imma decrease (downregulate) both dopamine (fun) and GABA (inhibitory) receptors in the brain.
When an addict tries to go sober, they face feelings of boredom/pointlessness/etc (lack of dopamine) and anger/anxiety/etc (lack of GABA). This lasts at least a few weeks.
Moreover, booze causes permanent changes in some people — specifically pathways between the pre-frontal cortex and the VTA.
Quitting ain’t easy. In the case of booze, it’s NORMALIZED AF and ubiquitous. It’s f’king FLAMMABLE. It affects every system in the body. It takes an average of 7.3mo to reverse cortical shrinkage. Other symptoms can last YEARS.
Cut people (including yourself) some slack when they struggle. It’s a helluva fight.
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