Change Your Brain Every Day - Is It Possible To Break Free From The Chains of Addiction?

Episode Date: November 15, 2017

Our pleasure centers are intended to handle an intermittent dripping of dopamine, but what happens when we pour dopamine onto our pleasure centers and drench them? In the first episode of a series on addiction, Dr. Daniel Amen and Tana Amen explain the science behind our compulsions, and the roles biology, psychology, and even genetics play in our predisposition to addictions.

Welcome to the Brain Warriors Way podcast. I'm Dr. Daniel Amen. And I'm Tana Amen. Here we teach you how to win the fight for your brain to defeat anxiety, depression, memory loss, ADHD, and addictions. The Brain Warriors Way podcast is brought to you by Amen Clinics, where we've transformed lives for three decades using brain spec imaging to better target treatment and natural ways to heal the brain. For more information, visit amenclinics.com.

The Brain Warriors Way podcast is also brought to you by BrainMD, where we produce the highest quality nutraceutical products to support the health of your brain and body. For more information, visit brainmdhealth.com. Welcome to the Brain Warriors Way podcast. Welcome. We're so excited you're back with us. We are over 100 episodes. Wonderful. We have what, 1.3 million downloads now? I know, crazy. And the testimonials have been amazing. So thank you for listening. Thank you for sharing.

And we love to hear your stories of success. They have been outstanding and they really make our day. So please keep them coming. Well, that's why we do that. Brain Warriors Way is you're in a war for the health of your brain. Everywhere you go, someone's trying to shove bad food down your throat or a pharmaceutical that may hook your mind. So today we're going to talk about addiction rescue. So before we do that, can we read? Yeah, I want to read this. I want to read some of our reviews.

Dear Dr. Amen and Tana, thank you both so much for taking time to record these podcasts. I listen to them whenever I am out on my morning walks, and I'm so grateful to have this information. And I absolutely love the chemistry and fun you two have together. Here's to developing brain envy. Thank you both. I think that was a really polite way to say we're a little crazy together it was nice if only they knew another one is everybody should hear this a fantastic podcast of bite-sized insights into the immensely important work of dr daniel amon and his wife tana have been a student for about 20 years when I bought my first copy of Change Your Brain, Change Your Life, just went over a million

copies. And it is still a hugely important reference tool for me today. Can't believe that 20 years later, psychiatrists are still not looking at the organ they are supposed to be treating. Crazy. Dr. Amen's work should be part of the curriculum, not just for psychiatrists are still not looking at the organ they are supposed to be treating. Crazy. Dr. Amen's work should be part of the curriculum, not just for psychiatrists, but at all schools. Speaking of which, we actually have a high school program, middle school, high school, college called Brain Thrive by 25. We're giving it away for free.

So go to brainthriveby25.com and you can download it. It's a really great way to get youth involved in understanding why they should take care of their brain, but it's in their language, their vernacular. It's not adults like yakking at them. It's them really talking about what's important to them. Yeah. So lots of great reviews. Thank you so much. And if you haven't left a review, we'd be grateful for it because it'll help spread the word about the podcast. Today, we're going to talk about addiction rescue. The president just signed an order saying that the addictions in the United States are a crisis and it's really an emergency. And I know that this is a very personal issue for you when you were growing up because it had a big negative impact on your family. It did. And, you know, in some ways it had a positive impact on me personally. I mean,

I don't, I certainly didn't think of it that way. But, you know, what happens to you shapes you in so many ways. The experiences shape you in so many ways. And I later told my uncle who was a heroin addict, who just the chaos in our family was crazy. It was crazy. And so when you have an addict in your family, it makes life very difficult. So I told him much later as an adult when I was finally able to move out and create some peace in my life, I thanked him. And I said, you are the reason that I never did drugs. So, you know, you can look at it either way you want. But as a child, it was hard.

It was really hard. I just made the choice that I was going to find some way to find something positive in it. Well, and there are pleasure centers in the brain. There are a number of areas in the brain that respond to the neurotransmitter dopamine, and one is called the nucleus accumbens, the other, the caudate nuclei in the basal ganglia. Another part called the substantia nigra. And when you dump dopamine, people feel awesome. They feel amazing.

The problem with addictions is it wears them out. And then you need more and more of that substance in order to feel anything at all. Okay. I mean, when we were talking about addiction, the word addiction and the concept is so broad. I mean, you say I'm an, like, I am an exercise addict or, I mean, I am probably. So, or like, I know, like for me, karate does that, that, that little dopamine dump, right? I love to go hit stuff. There's nothing more fun for me than to go hit pads when I'm frustrated, when I'm angry. It is that dopamine rush for me to go just get it out because it's a fast-paced, exciting thing I do. But why, for some people, is that the thing they turn to? Like something like exercise or karate or fast cars or whatever it is, pornography. Whereas for other people, it becomes drugs or alcohol or something far more destructive. Well, you know, one of the things I learned, if you're going to talk about addiction rescue is you first have to understand why people use and, and like you said, what do

they use? But, but first let's just talk about, I'm curious how that template gets started. So let's come back to that at some point. It's really important, but we have to understand the system. I'm actually working on a book for next year called Success Starts Here. And there's a chapter on pleasure and purpose. Because when people are purposeful, there's a reason. I mean, we do this podcast because it brings us pleasure. It is part of our purpose in life.

And that drips dopamine onto our pleasure centers. But there's a difference between dripping and pouring. When you pour dopamine from pornography or from cocaine or from heroin, it has such a powerful effect. But the problem is when the neurons pour it out, there's nothing left. And so after the hit of cocaine. So too much of it at once burns them out. Too much of it at once ends up burning it out. And then cocaine addicts or heroin addicts, most of them don't do it because it's fun.

They did initially because of the great feeling most of it do it so they don't feel abnormal terribly depressed right because now it's their normal now it's their normal to have the nucleus accumbens okay so now i have two questions raining but now now i have two questions one Raining. But now, now I have two questions. One is the template. Why do some people find that same pleasure from things that are healthier versus someone who has to have something as extreme as, as heroin? Okay. And the other one now is why do some people, why can someone have a glass of wine and hate that feeling when they start to lose control or when it starts to feel like too much, like one glass of wine and hate that feeling when they start to lose control or when it starts to

feel like too much like one glass is enough and not only is it enough but they don't want to go too far whereas another person must have more and can't stop so for alcohol in particular one of the theories is that so me and i don't really like drinking, I get nothing out of drinking, that my body processes alcohol to water and vinegar. And for people who have the genetic vulnerability to alcoholism, they process it to water, vinegar, and a substance called thioquinolone that actually works on the heroin or morphine centers. So more so than the person who doesn't like that feeling. Right. So clearly there is a genetic vulnerability. And my first wife, her dad was an alcoholic.

And four of his five brothers were alcoholics. And the only one that wasn't was in a wheelchair from an accident and he just couldn't get to the booze. So growing up, I told my children, if you never drink, you're never going to have a problem. But if you drink, you might have a severe problem because you're loaded genetically for the vulnerability to substance abuse. So genes are really important. And on this show and in our work, we always talk about the four circles, right? You want to understand addictions. You have to understand there's a biological part to that.

There's a psychological part, which I have a very interesting thing I want to talk about. A social part, who do you hang out with? If you hang out with drug addicts, you're more likely to be a drug addict. If you hang out with porn stars, you're more likely to get involved in pornography. So who you spend time with is really matter. And then there's a spiritual circle. And isn't it interesting, most of the successful treatments for addiction have a spiritual component. I have lost control. I am powerless and I require a higher power in order to stay well. And so just thinking of the biology a little bit, think of the nucleus accumbens, we are wearing out our pleasure centers as a society.

Right. Our phones. Video games, how television has changed. It's that constant need for excitement and stimulation. You know, when Chloe and I went to the mountains together, it was really good point for us. We went to the mountains and she's like, I'm looking forward to just having no technology for the next three days. None, zero, no TV, no phones, no nothing, no internet. And it was, I thought it was great that a teenager would say that, but for us,

it was such an amazing bonding experience. Believe me, there was plenty of stimulation, right? We were working really hard. We had to work really hard together because it was a survival class. So it was a really hard work. And by the end of the three days, we were so bonded and we were so relaxed. Well, we were exhausted, but we were relaxed and we were bonded together and we had created this. We had done this project together and we have lost that sort of as a society, don't you think? Well, you know, and you could just see it at a restaurant or walking down Fifth Avenue. People have their faces buried in their phones. And so if we, and in technology, purposefully hires neuroscientists to hook you. There's actually

a book on this called Hooked, you know, how technology companies cause gadget addictions. And there's a professor, we talked about this in the Brain Warriors Way in our book, that from Georgia State University said that technology and cell phones and video games and computers are really the cigarettes of the 21st century. So let's just talk a minute about, well, what will activate your pleasure centers in a positive way? So like exercise. Or a negative way. So in a positive way, it's meaning and purpose. So doing this, it makes us happy.

When we go out, often someone will come up to us and said, I love your shows. I love your books. Yeah. Or like Angie, even on Facebook, if I will come up to us and said, I love your shows. I love your books. Yeah. Or like Angie, even on Facebook, if I'm going to use technology. For me, if I use technology, that's really the only thing I do is coaching people. I don't sit there and like, I just, I have no idea what's going on on Facebook other than coaching people. So like Angie, over a year, lost 103 pounds and stayed in touch with me. And that for me pushes on that pleasure center.

Right. I mean, totally. And that probably dumped some dopamine. Huge. Yeah. Lasting love. So when I saw you in the hallway coming to do our podcast and you're in this very pretty blue shirt or blouse, I mean, you press on my pleasure centers all the time in a positive way. Volunteering, relationships, new learning, traveling, spiritual experience, pumpkin seeds because they increase dopamine. Dopamine, right. Proteins, certain proteins. Green tea, gratitude, appreciation, winning by striving to be your best, losing that motivates you to practice. So that's interesting for some people.

Because you can't do karate without falling a lot. And then having digital discipline, which has been hard for me over the years. So activating your pleasure centers in a negative way, jumping out of airplanes because it dumps dopamine, repeatedly falling in love. There are these people that fall. They're addicted to the drama. They're addicted to the drama of being in love and then out of love, in love and out of love. That just sounds terrible. High-risk sports like helicopter skiing, having marital affairs, that know, that clandestine, doing something

wrong, the fear of being caught. You know, I've had people that were clearly addicted to that. One guy I treated got married 11 times. And, you know, as a psychiatrist, I always try to reframe things in a positive way. That just sounds expensive. And I said, you're really good at getting the chicks. Excessive video games, pornography, cocaine, methamphetamine, alcohol. I'm sorry, I have to jump in on that 11 merit. See, I'm a pessimist, I admit it. I'd be like,

you're really good at losing money because that's just crazy. What? So substances, also fame. And it's weird. It's funny, I don't always like it. And it works on your pleasure centers initially. But then over time, it can wear them out. And it's one of the reasons why you see actors and- So we certainly don't, I mean, we don't have this like huge level of fame,

but the little bit of like as public figures when we're out and people recognize us and whatever, you handle it very, you're just very like sort of even keeled. And if anything, you enjoy the little bit of, you know, people coming up to you and talking to you. I like people telling me their results, but I actually get weirded out by it sometimes. I like, for me, I kind of hide from the recognition. Well, but do you remember when it first started to happen to me? Oh, I did not like it. No, when it first started to happen to me, I would get really shy. And I'm like, you have to stop that.

Like you have to practice a line until you get comfortable with it because people think you are arrogant if you do that. And so, yeah, no, it takes practice to learn how to handle it. Yeah. And I just didn't know what to say. Right. I get weirded out. I like helping people. I don't really like recognition.

We'll wear out your pleasure centers. Yeah. Winning where you hurt others. So notice winning where you're striving to be your best is good for your pleasure centers. Winning where you like dominating other people is not good. Because it ends up wearing it out. Losing where you lose and then you go, how can I be better? The how can I be better is good for your pleasure centers. The losing, which then causes you emotional pain, is bad for them. And there's some people, they actually looked at people playing games, and some people who won, I'm sorry, some people who lost, it actually activated their pleasure centers they're like

I can do this I can beat this and there are other people when they lost it activated the pain centers in their brain and so they avoided it they wouldn't do it at all and so you know it's how do you deal with losing you know does it more? Some people feel defeated and some people feel challenged. Right. And some people go, oh, I would never do that. Undisciplined digital behavior wears out your pleasure centers as to scary movies. You have experience with that. Don't like them.

No. When you're a little girl, your ADD mom took you to them. And that's what happens. All these behaviors that wear out your pleasure centers, they actually are more common. And funny, I grew up in a chaotic environment. I like movies about justice. The good guy has to win. And gossiping will wear out your pleasure centers in a negative way. So it's critical.

If you want to rescue your brain, you first have to take care of it. Take care of your pleasure centers. Avoid things that dump dopamine. Do things that sort of drip dopamine. But I think if someone is really suffering or knows someone's suffering, because we do have a lot of experience with this personally,

not just in our clinics, I mean, thousands of people a month, but personally. And it's easy to say when it's somebody that's a patient and you're not personally connected to it, but I got to tell you, when it's personal to you, it feels out of control if it's in your life at all, even if it's not you personally. And sometimes it feels more out of control when you can't do anything and someone you love. Getting assessed and getting the right help just makes all the difference in the world. So I'd strongly suggest you reach out to some professional and get that help. Because if you surround someone with the services and the support, I mean, personally, I've seen miracles happen in our own family. So I just think this is really important. stay with us.

And when we come back, we're actually going to talk about six different types of addicts and how important it is to know about your brain. And that is definitely part of addiction rescue. We're also going to talk about food and supplements that help to heal. Stay with us. Thank you for listening to the Brain Warriors Way podcast. Go to iTunes and leave a review and you'll automatically be entered into a drawing to get a free signed copy of the Brain Warriors Way and the Brain Warriors Way cookbook we give away every month.