addiction

[drugo]

Below is an excerpt from an article I'm currently writing on addiction.

I can post the entire article if anyone is intersted.

The early 1980s discovery of the human brain’s endorphin system, otherwise known as an ecology of endogenous opioid peptides or what some researchers have named ‘the heroin within’ (Mcnally & Akill 2002:35) further problematises ideas of addiction being reducible to a person’s dependency on a drug. The human body produces, without ingesting exogenous chemicals, a number of psychoactive compounds that mirror the chemistry of exterior drugs (Mcnally & Akill 2002:35). For example, opioids tend to be naturally produced in the body as a result of complex associations of experience (ibid) such as an athlete training, compromising, focusing then winning a competition and exploding into an ecstatic state of joy and elation. Following this logic, the gates of defining addiction seem to open up for including and scrutinising non-drug related behaviour. That is, rather than just human to drug relationships, the endogenous opioid argument suggests the possibility of addiction in all experiences, passions and relationships that people have with their worlds. If an athlete severely compromises her family and friends by becoming obsessed with winning and gaining an endogenous opioid hit, how does this differ to a heroin user neglecting his family and friends and using heroin? It seems that the differences between the two are shadowed by a cyclical shaped monument of the Greek Goddess Mnomosyne who is proclaiming the mnemonic urgency for a monistic ontology.

Can someone be physically addicted to a pursuit such as sport or love or gambling as they can to heroin?

[Distracted]

Can someone be physically addicted to a pursuit such as sport or love or gambling as they can to heroin?

 

Hell yes! There isn't a negative stigma attached to those sorts of addictions either which makes them harder to spot.

Video games can be very addctive because of the ease at which you're able to achieve your predetermined goals. World of Warcraft has a loot system similar to that of the pokies, using positive reinforcement(i think... been awhile) to encourage people to keep playing.

During my psych class in highschool I remember hearing of cases of active runners suffering depression if they discontinued their daily runnings.

[Sonny Jim]

^^^

agreed but lets not go nuts here.

Daily runners or gamblers probably wont have cold sweats and simultaneous diarrhea and vomiting if they miss a day or so.

[Chiral]

Addictions start from a single interpreted good point...

For instance, a person will do something and it makes them feel incredibly good..almost detached from reality good, a power, control, or a way out.

People won't get addicted to something unless they have had a single high point from the occasion...for instance a person places a bet, they win...they love the feeling and want to do it again. You could probably say with certainty that if they had placed the bet and it lost then they are likely to have a bad feeling and not wish to pursue the matter again.

Likewise someone who takes meth and enjoys the rush so much that they wish to continue finding that rush. A heroine addict who's first shot made them feel so incredibly good that it is too irresistible to not ever do again. Once you know how something feels, your mind will always know and have that knowledge, therein lies the seeds of addiction.

If someone could point me to an addiction that wasn't narcissistic I'd like to hear it.

Addicts can have extremely reversed morals too, admitting they have an addiction, knowing it's bad and potentially ruining their lives, will try to tell people not to do what they are doing and fuck their lives up, yet can't take their own advice.

[Sonny Jim]

If someone could point me to an addiction that wasn't narcissistic I'd like to hear it.

 

Hey Chiral, I find this point of yours particularly interesting.

Can you expand on it a little?

[faustus]

yes, anything that someone finds enjoyable can become addictive.

behaviour is reinforced by the mesolimbic dopamine pathway. some people choose to be reinforced by culturally endorsed pursuits such as food, sex, money sport, hobbies, love, long walks on the beach... while others, partly through neurochemical disturbances in their ability to be reinforced by these behaviours, will turn to drugs.

i think the difference between drugs and other "natural" rewards is the magnitude of the reinforcement. so although an athlete might be "addicted" to running, the magnitude of this addiction may differ to that seen in drugs. read into the level of mesolimbic activation caused by meth and coke versus eating or sex, it's quite interesting.

in the brain, endogenous drugs are also called neurotransmitters. so i think we're all drug addicts and all slaves to our neurochemistry. when someone chooses more indirect, abstract or obscure forms of reinforcement, the more depth of character they're seen to have

[Chiral]

Hey Chiral, I find this point of yours particularly interesting.

Can you expand on it a little?

 

Well I think addictions are in general selfish pursuits, you won't generally find people being addicted to something un-enjoyable for themselves, moreover I can't think of a single addiction whereby a person is doing something to please others...even if they were, then they must be getting something out of it otherwise what's the point.

A curious thing I've noticed about someone close to me is they are always trying to show how generous they can be, re-gifting presents to others that they received, handing someone money which they did not earn...these may seem like generous characteristics to the receiver...I see it as a narcissistic addiction by definition...the giver is pretending to be a good person in a vain way to gain cred by those around them...they are compulsive in their attempts too, and it's rather disturbing sometimes to witness over and over.

Addictions can come in many weird and wonderful variations and genotypes.

[Rabaelthazar]

If someone could point me to an addiction that wasn't narcissistic I'd like to hear it.

 

OCD???

[faustus]

OCD = an attempt to alleviate anxiety through things actions such as rituals and repetition.

however, i think the whole problem with chiral's argument is that it can't be disproven. you could explain all behaviour regardless of how selfless it appears to be, as a form of selfish or self-interested behaviour.

[The Dude]

you could explain all behaviour regardless of how selfless it appears to be, as a form of selfish or self-interested behaviour.

 

Helping others is the best way to help ourselves.

Being generous to others makes others feel good which makes me feel good.

If I can help you feel better I get the biggest rush of self gratification that it is essentially an egocentric act for me to be selfless.

also I'm addicted to breathing. That first breath of oxygen I took on my own gave me that breath of fresh air i needed, a new lease on life and all that. Also the positive reinforcement i got for the effort it took to take that first breath is as yet unmatched by anything else so that this is one of my strongest habits and the most difficult to break... well that and my heart beating which actually caused the whole breathing addiction in the first place. God damn life and its habits forced on us!

Each breath i take is but a vain attempt to replicate that first feel good sensation of consuming oxygen.

[drugo]

Each breath i take is but a vain attempt to replicate that first feel good sensation of consuming oxygen.

 

So narcissistic I don't know why you don't hold your breath and stop stealing precious oxygen!!

Narcissus' wife, Echo -- called so because she only ever heard an echo of herself when addressing her husband -- was surely addicted to her dull other-half.

I like the idea that addiction refers to those pursuits that work to close up potentials at becoming-other; at proliferating into creative nuances. Therefore, perhaps at the opposite end of an 'addiction' scale dwell the best pursuits in life, those that offer resources and directions for lines of flight into the ever emerging abyss of creation.

Edited May 31, 2010 by telepathogen

[C_T]

eating disorders, body image addiction? there's plenty that don't change your consciousness nor involve drugs...

[FancyPants]

With Chiral talking about narcissism it made me think of just this weekend being at a party with a person who was the most up-themself, condescending, pretentious... I could go on, but I'd start sounding like him. Anyway it wasn't until much later he explained he'd been diagnosed with Narcissistic Personality Disorder. Makes sense now. Anyway was thinking what's the difference between addiction and a behavioural/psychological disorder? Did the OCD person opening a door 7 times got some sort of thrill from it the first few times they did it? Did this person at the party start out being a "regular" (which I know he was) but found out that it felt really good to be a handsome young intelligent man who is fawned over by the kinky company he keeps? (I don't mean my group of friends at the party).

[ref1ect1ons]

Addictions are not selfish or narcissistic, anything concerned with pleasure and reward can result in addiction.

For example, dopamine is released as some people play pokies, which can result in addiction, the dopamine system is one reward system designed to reinforce behaviours associated with pleasure.

[Chiral]

Addictions are not selfish or narcissistic, anything concerned with pleasure and reward can result in addiction.

For example, dopamine is released as some people play pokies, which can result in addiction, the dopamine system is one reward system designed to reinforce behaviours associated with pleasure.

 

I disagree entirely...addictions can lead to harmful behavior...someone putting money in the pokies and enjoying themselves could quite possibly be putting in their rent money for the month...this has a catastrophic knock on affect when they have lost, as they try to chase loss after loss, borrowing off friends and relatives, lying about where the money went, not feeding children appropriately, stealing and even then not using that money to rectify debts, but simply putting it back through the pokies in a vain attempt to win big. The poker machine addict chases a win..one that is never going to come so the dopamine reward system barely gets to kick in, in any substantial way.

This is very selfish in my opinion....if you doing something because it makes you feel good at the expense of others or lack of commitment to a duty, then u are selfish, you are putting your pleasure before the needs or considerations of others.

An addiction to rock climbing or extreme sports for a young fit single man with a job, all bills paid and up to date, and has a decent disposable income is quite different. This is a whole other category of addiction that is basically feeding the dopamine system...this is what you could say to be a positive addiction as the side effects are health and fitness, no unwanted stress is placed on others.

Perhaps his mum might be worried a lot though.

[Quill]

Addictions are totally connected with narcissism and selfishness. Narcissism = love of the self, addictions happen when one has engaged in an activity that pleases the self for a great deal of time and that person feels they need to do the activity that pleases the self. Addiction is about pleasing the self and this quite often takes priority to anything else, so pleasing self over other things = selfishness.

OCD, Body dismorphia and eating disorders are clearly not addictions, even if the repetitive behaviours of those suffering them are similar to those suffering addiction.

[drugo]

Narcissism = love of the self,

 

not all addicts love themselves as addicts, or love being an addict. In this case, usually the substance is a shield from facing certain things.

[ref1ect1ons]

The dopamine system also reinforces positive addictive behaviours, like sex. So you may disagree, but I am simply highlighting that the system responsible for addiction is also associated with reinforcing 'positive' behaviours.

[drugo]

The dopamine system also reinforces positive addictive behaviours, like sex. So you may disagree, but I am simply highlighting that the system responsible for addiction is also associated with reinforcing 'positive' behaviours.

 

Isn't that what the excerpt suggests?

Here is the next part if the argument is need of clarification. Or perhaps poeple usually just read the title of a thread and don't engage with what's being said. Hence the need for 'clarification'.

As Alexander notes, the conflation of drug and non-drug addiction is less of a modern discovery than it is a re-discovery, as it reflects certain aspects of the pre-sixteenth century conceptions of addiction noted earlier. With the gates swinging wide open, Alexander (2008:35) suggests that:

"Gambling, love, power-seeking, religious or political zeal, work, food, videogame playing, internet surfing, pornography viewing, and so forth can take up every aspect of a severely addicted persons life conscious, unconscious, intellectual, emotional, behavioural, social and spiritual just as a severe drug and alcohol addiction can."

An obvious inversion of this idea recognises the fact that all these pursuits can be engaged with in a manner that is not generally characterised as addiction, and sympathetically, so too can the repeated use of drugs. As Parker (1998:159) notes:

"Drug users are essentially extending the same decision-making process to illicit drugs as others do in respect of cigarette smoking or drinking alcohol or indeed horse riding, hang gliding or mountaineering."

the same issue later in the paper...

, as Sedgwick (1992:584) puts it, the assertion of will itself has come to appear as addictive. Becoming-other, or any transformation in an individuals passions come to indicate a transvaluation of addictions. For example, a sudden decision to study philosophy rather than finance would therefore mean kicking the addiction of finance only to resort to a philosophical dependency or habit. Following this logic, it may be perceived that the recent shamanic renaissance reflects that the western worldview is like a drug and its addictive rationally-disenchanted, consumer-capitalist dreaming or mythos has created a macrosocial junky, a smack-head bodypolitic that is currently hitting rock-bottom. To stretch the analogy, a negotiation of the Other(s), or through becoming-other, is the process indicating how the late modern west is seeking treatment. But, the conflation of will, or passion, and addiction equates to a bleak conception of becoming an infinite process of addiction and, given the negative connotations associated with the term addiction, a pessimistic story for human agency.

In contrast, through exploring ideas that concern suffering a variety of insights open up regarding the conduct of addiction and, as it seems, all other human affairs...

Edited June 3, 2010 by telepathogen

[ref1ect1ons]

You're right T