We know that stress can take a toll on our bodies, but it also affects our brain.
I’ve written about how it affects memory and the hippocampus.
Research is now suggesting that stress also alters how we learn. This has ramifications for addiction and anything involved in the negative aspects of neuroplasticity.
A recent review article published in Current Directions in Psychological Science by University of Southern California researcher Mara Mather, PhD, suggests that stress alters our decision-making abilities.
Specifically, when under stress, dopamine levels in the brain’s pleasure circuit change in such a way that people overemphasize remembered rewards and de-emphasize punishments or detractions from a certain action.
Can you see how this would affect addiction?
This could result in an addict remembering that [seemingly] lovely drug high without really thinking about the low that follows.
The article actually sites a 2009 study which suggested that stress increases drug cravings and increases the possibility of relapse in drug addicts.
Our Brain Science Webinar Series gets more into about addiction, learning, and changes in the brain, as well as ways to directly apply this new information with your patients.
Please share your thoughts below. How do you notice learning to be a part of the process of addiction?
Dopamine is a habit forming chemical. It can re-enforce unhealthy and/or healthy habits. One’s practices can activate the sympathetic or para-sympathetic nervous system, Dopamine therefore will enforces that practice. The problem is that many of us are conditioned unconsciously to react to stimuli. If we wish to manage our behavior and reduce dis-stress, we must develop a practice to become conscious of our conditioning. Anxiety activates the sympathetic nervous system and Mindful Meditation or the Relaxation Response (as espoused by Dr Herbert Benson) activates the parasympathetic system which can result in eustress (relaxation) thus a reduction in dis-stress. Additionally, some people are helped by talk therapy and or devout prayer.
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It is very interesting to read above how stress affects dopamine levels and the brain’s interpretation. Remembering that wonderful high without its subsequent consequences is undoubtedly a root cause for relapse among those with addiction & alcoholism maladies.
How are people able to comment on a program that hasn’t been webcast yet?
I am studying Energy medicine and medical intuition. Your chakras can make and keep you addicted, and I was extremely stressed and exhausted after nursing my hubby through cancer and his death.. I was the one who fought his cancer… he heard the diagnosis and headed straight for the headstone. I thought I had grieved while he was still alive, because I was Wonder Woman right after he died… and 6 months later it hit me like a ton of bricks. I was almost catatonic… I suffered for a while, and discovered EFT through the tears….. and that stopped the crying. Then I found out about the Chakras and studied them….. that helped too. Then I learned about energy medicine and the value of raising your vibration. That changed my life. I am a Reiki master now, have just about finished my first year of Energy medicine, have studied Rapid Eye Technology and Neuro Linguistic programming, Quantum touch and more. Even my sister cannot believe the change in me. Even without my sweetie, running out of money very quickly, I don’t think I have ever been happier.
if you have your chakras in reasonable shape and have a higher vibration level, you do not fall victim to addictions because you can see so many better things out there.
There is and always will be a place for conventional medicine, but Energy Medicine can help a lot of people leaving more time to doctors of conventional medicine to properly handle the patients that need their attention. The first step is learning how to breathe again. People are making themselves smaller in this stressful world, and their breath had become small too.
Hi Gale, Your post really caught my eye, I hope you dont mind me repsonding. I am a student of mindfullness at Aberdeen University and have been applying meditative, energy raising / maintaining practices to every day living and sports performance for some time. I have studied Waveform here in Scotland and would like to take my studies and daily practice more into energy work. Would it be possible to give me some leads as to where I would find out more about the Energy Medicine you have studied?
Kind regards
John
Hello there in Scotland… I loved my trip there.
Donna Eden’s site, and she is the goddess of energy medicine. It’s amazing how she can see your energy and at a glance, heal you. I don’t have her skill level (yet… I wonder if my life is long enough to get there! LOL) and if you go to youtube, you can find her videos about energy medicine.
It really works. I had physio for about 3 years with no real pain relief. One day, my knotted up quadricep felt like 10 people were sticking hot knives in my leg, but within 4 minutes, the pain was gone and I have been pain free since, something conventional medicine couldn’t do.
pauw me kalakanniyata kauda mee turnathhau dena awajathakaya muta english walin muge sampurana namawath liyaganna bari samupakare tinkiri tin eka horakamkarala pitakotuwe vikunapu ekane meee
ane ban. umbalata theern nadda me paparasiya boru karanne kiyala. oya conseversation eka gothapu ekak. papa hari news daapan boru karan nathuwa. ubath hariyata lankawe JATHIKA thalaye madya wage, dan dan boruma thamai kiyanne.
WOW. As I am reading your words this morning, I feel the ascension you continue to make and the ascension I crave, as if my life depends on it. Only, it is my seat in eternity which truly depends upon it. It being that ascension of consciousness that seems to be calling the elite of all listeners, alive and still connected, capable of feeling inner self and our position or purpose in the universe. Not to serve ourselves. But serving all others in LOVE through Holy Spirit touched lives! wow
As a technology futurist, and a healer, I have observed some fascinating correspondences in the pleasure/addiction process: my clients become measurably more or less “addicted” to a new complementary or alternative techno-medical intervention not only because of its healing effects but also on account of its pleasurable aspects. For the record, my “equation” is:
DISCOVERY (eg, of pain relief) + CHALLENGE (ie, medical prognosis) + PLEASURE = JOY (and all that that represents) …
Hi Ruth, I know from experience,having nursed my husband for many years with ALS,evntually
becoming totally parylised,he needed attention so much of the time as he could do nothing for
himself. The effect on my health during this time was pretty devastating as there was no real
time for pleasure,the main thing I feel was affected was my memory and concentration,not really
noticed at the time,but after his death my body was throwing up several health problems,and my
memory and concentration abilities give me cause for concern.
.
So stress, particularly over a long time with very little pleasure.does take its toll. Sylvia
Hello Sylvia,
My specialty in my counseling private practice is grief/loss, PTSD. I would place your concerns of memory and concentrations under the normal symptoms of grief and how grief impacts us physically, emotionally, mentally, our behavior and spiritually. You can look up these online. Grief alone is very stressful and exhausting. Be gentle with yourself and lower your expectations of yourself right now. No you are not getting dementia…you are just in the process of grieving heavily. Your memory and concentration will improve as you move through the grief process. I recommend the book, A Time To Grieve by (author, I think…Harriet Staubacher). With light and caring…Kathy