Managing Addictions

Addictive behaviours

The whistle stop guide for that whirlwind of a carousel

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What is an addiction?

An addiction is classed as a pattern of behaviour or activities you partake in even though they have a detrimental effect on your life.  

Some examples:

Alcohol

Promiscuity  

Smoking

Drugs

Social Media

Online Gaming

Potential factor for repeated negative behaviour

• Fundamentally your body likes homeostasis. If any of your natural mood boosting chemicals are low or out of kilter the body will encourage behaviours that boost them to help you feel better. It is the body’s logical coping mechanism.  
• Genetics accounts for 40-60% of addictions. Addictions are classed as a chronic brain disease. GABRG3 gene on chromosome 15 has been linked with alcoholism in families. GABRG3 is involved in GABA movement between neurons. GABA is a brain chemical that gives you a calming effect
• Low levels of good bacteria are found throughout our body. We have more bacteria in our body than we do cells. Our bacteria has a symbiotic relationship with us, what this means is we look after them and they look after us. Part of their role is to make us feel relaxed or calm by producing certain natural neurochemicals ie: bacteria L.Rhamnosis enhances GABA production to calm us in stressful situations[i].
• Reduced white brain matter this is the area where impulse control and learning takes place. The more someone drinks the greater the damage to the frontal lobes.
• Advertisement Your brain processes 400 billion bits of information per second, you only consciously are aware of 2,000 of these, so how much are we absorbing subconsciously from our surroundings?

Neurotransmitters involved in dysregulated/addictive behaviours

Dopamine is your reward - motivating neurotransmitter, it’s that little pat on the back that says ‘good job, shall we do that again’. We naturally release dopamine in response to food or a sexual encounter.  Substance abuse gives an intense surge of dopamine, making it highly rewarding. However, the more unnatural hits you have, the lower your natural dopamine falls and therefore the bigger the chase you have to get for that same dopamine hit! An example being - If you are a smoker, the level of dopamine you will naturally be producing is lower of that to a non-smoker.

GABA  is the calming neurotransmitter of the brain. GABA and adrenaline are supposed to be in balance in the brain. Drinking regularly causes the brain to produce less GABA, because the brain begins to rely on alcohol for part of the calming effect. When you suddenly stop drinking, your brain chemistry is out of balance. You don’t have enough GABA neurotransmitter, and you have a relative excess of adrenaline, which causes all the withdrawal symptoms.

Serotonin your happy chum keeping you in good spirits. As serotonin is released when we eat sugary foods, or carb load, overeating is often linked to depression. We produce between 70 - 90% in our digestive system. This could explain why you get that fluttering feeling when you are super excited about something.

Oxytocin this is your cuddly attachment chemical. It is known as the ‘monogamy hormone’. The more you release when you are with someone through being intimate, the more attached you become to them. Drugs such as MDMA encourage the release of oxytocin to make us feel close to one another.

Below is a table describing the ups and downs of certain neurotransmitters that are involved in negative behaviours. Substances flood the brain with neurotransmitters. When the brain is flooded it becomes less sensitive to the neurotransmitter and therefore needs more to get the same reward.

This is very much a chicken and egg scenario. Did the environment throw everything out of balance or is this genetic. We have many gene mutations but it tends to be environmental factors to them  being switched on or not

Neurotransmitter	Too little	Right balance	Too much
GABA	Anxiety, Low levels can be the trigger or the cause of  addictions depression	Calming effect, reducing fear and anxiety.  No alcohol withdrawal effect	Impaired short term memory, aggressive, poor spatial awareness, unregulated behaviour
Dopamine	Fatigue Depression Forgetful Unable to cope with Stress Low libido Weight gain	reward- motivation, makes you want to re-inact a behaviour as it gives you pleasure and approval.	Impulsive behaviour to achieve instant gratification
Serotonin	Depression Anxiety Obesity Obsessions Alcohol Abuse Disrupted sleep Phobia	happy and positive upbeat feeling	Confused, aggressive
Oxytocin	Irritable Avoids being tactile/intimate Unable to orgasm Crave sugary food Disturbed sleeping patterns	Affectionate Intimate Sexual relationships based on emotion and contact A feel of connection with people Calm Content	Sugary addictions Mechanical rather than emotional connection with sexual interactions Irritable Poor communication Unable to orgasm Anxiety

Lifestyle

Positive Goals Dopamine is hardwired to be released when you do something positive. Make a list of positive goals you would like to achieve ie: learning a new skill, attending workshops/seminars.

It’s all about the P’s Poor Planning equals poor performance. Therefore give yourself step by step guides on your daily plans. A diary I would highly recommend that includes mindfulness:

Trigg won diary of 2018.

Support


Russell brands 12 step guide to recovery

Great listen/read. Pull from it what you will and use what works for you best. Label yourself the best you see respectful to yourself. Sometimes labelling yourself as an addict can be a self-fulfilling or someone elses fulfilling prophecy of you! Be kind to yourself!

Diet Protocol

The dopamine diet – Tom Kerridge

Serotonin boosting foods

Pre and probiotic foods to encourage neurotransmitter synthesis.

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[i]Ingestion of Lactobacillus strain regulates emotional behavior and central GABA receptor expression in a mouse via the vagus nerve.

Bravo JA¹, Forsythe P, Chew MV, Escaravage E, Savignac HM, Dinan TG, Bienenstock J, Cryan JF.

 https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/21876150  Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A. 2011 Sep 

20;108(38):16050-5