Maybe it’s not dope. Maybe it’s booze, maybe it’s glue, maybe it’s gasoline. Maybe it’s a gunshot to the head. But something. Something to relieve the pressures of their everyday life, like having to tie their shoes.
How do you distill the past 40 years addiction research into ten essential messages? (…)
1. Addiction is fundamentally about compulsive behavior In normal behaviors, the control in our brains is top down. In addiction the cortex (the decision making bit of the brain) becomes ‘eroded’ to a ‘dehumanised’ compulsion.
(…)
2. Compulsive drug seeking starts outside conscious thought
(…)
3. Addiction is about 50% inherited, but it’s much more complicated than that…
(…)
4. 75-90% of those asking for help from services have diagnosable mental health problems including depression, social phobia and post traumatic stress disorder.
(…)
5. Addiction is a chronic relapsing disorder in the majority
(…)
6. Different therapies appear to produce similar treatment outcomes
(…)
7. “Come back when you are motivated” is no longer an acceptable therapeutic response
(…)
10. Change takes time
screenshot { The Naked Gun, 1988 }
