Addiction

Post by **Leisher** » Fri Feb 24, 2017 3:38 pm

Interesting TED talk on addiction and how we're looking at it wrong.

Here's a short, animated summary for those time and patience challenged people (it's all I watched):

I'm not going to sit here and say I did the research, but based on the video alone, some interesting points seem to be raised, yes? So whether it's Catt's Pokemon habit, my love of naked women, Malcolm's Trump fetish, or Gordon's weekend long jerkathons, we can now blame it on people not giving us the attention we deserve!

Post by **Vince** » Fri Feb 24, 2017 8:15 pm

Heh... anyone that's been in any sort of meaningful recovery knows all this. The "rat park" part of this is utter bullshit, but other than that it's pretty accurate. You can have siblings that grew up in the exact same circumstances and one may have an addiction and one may not. For whatever reason (and there are a lot that can be identified) some people have trouble feeling like they fit in and belong.

As I write this, I'm starting to realize why I hold such disdain for the transgender movement.

There is nothing society can do to drag you through the door and make you feel accepted and part of the world. There is a world where tons and tons of people feel accepted and connected, so it's not a world fault. The person has to go through that door. This is why rehab doesn't work on people that aren't willing to do whatever it takes to get sober. Never underestimate our ability to stay in a damaging situation because it's less uncomfortable or scary to us than changing what we're doing.

An interesting aside on rats in solitude and together... there was another study where they would shock a solitary rat. He would fuss and react and then go about his business. When they introduced a second rat and shocked the first one, the rat would fuss and decide it must have been the other rat that did it and they'd often fight to the death.

Malcolm · Post by **Malcolm** » Fri Feb 24, 2017 8:23 pm

The opposite of addiction is connection.

Connection doesn't always mean "to other people." I find this explanation much more convincing.

Secondly...

We could all be getting drunk — I might after this — (Laughter) — but we're not. Now, because you've been able to afford the approximately gazillion pounds that it costs to get into a TED Talk, I'm guessing you guys could afford to be drinking vodka for the next six months. You wouldn't end up homeless. You're not going to do that, and the reason you're not going to do that is not because anyone's stopping you. It's because you've got bonds and connections that you want to be present for.

... no, at least not if we're sticking to this "bonds and connections" bullshit. Chemicals have very forceful feedback mechanisms which tell you if you use to excess, anything from a hangover to respiratory failure to cardiac arrest. Steven Tyler still holds the best response ever to the question of dropping chems, "I got sick and tired of being sick and tired." It wasn't, "I got support from my friends and family and they had an intervention." It was negative personal consequences. Not everything you can do too much of comes designed so cleverly.

You can give motherfuckers everything they want in perfect circumstances and they'll still OD on something. It's a matter of whether they then: 1) regulate it, 2) avoid it, 3) drown in it.

Post by **GORDON** » Fri Feb 24, 2017 8:35 pm

I do not have an addictive personality. I wouldn't OD on anything.

Malcolm · Post by **Malcolm** » Fri Feb 24, 2017 8:58 pm

GORDON wrote: I do not have an addictive personality. I wouldn't OD on anything.

Hah. I think you just haven't found your particular kick or mainline.

Post by **GORDON** » Fri Feb 24, 2017 9:08 pm

My drug is chillin and kickin it. If I was given "everything I ever wanted," it would only fund my desire to chill and kick it.

The one time in my life I felt a strong craving for anything, it was after a 3-day course of Vicodin. On the 4th day I thought, "Huh... I could use another one, those felt pretty good..." but then I never thought about it again.

Know what? If I had unlimited funds, I would probably OD in the vaginas of really hot, gold-digging women. I think that just makes me male, though.

Post by **TPRJones** » Wed Mar 01, 2017 5:24 pm

I don't think I can get addicted to anything. But I do occasionally have short intense obsessions that burn out after a few days or weeks. But I have my fun and then just stop.

Cigarettes are a weird case. On days off at home I will smoke a pack-and-a-half a day. During the week I have two in the morning, I don't take smoke breaks at work at all even though I could go out and smoke any time I wanted, and I'll smoke 7 or 8 at night. I have no problem just stopping for a day or more because I'm in a situation where I can't or don't want to smoke, such as this past weekend of travel and visiting my parents. But given the opportunity and choice I will smoke, because I enjoy it. So based on that pattern of use I don't think I'm addicted per se but I have zero interest in stopping.

Malcolm · Post by **Malcolm** » Wed Mar 01, 2017 5:32 pm

But given the opportunity and choice I will smoke, because I enjoy it. So based on that pattern of use I don't think I'm addicted per se but I have zero interest in stopping.

Whether or not single-minded stubbornness and determination is called "drive" or "addiction" is quite subjective. The latter tends to be thrown around only if negative consequences result, and even that has leeway.

Was Lemmy addicted to drugs at various points in his life? I know the dude had a hell of a speed habit during his "touring the UK in the back of a van" days and that he drank Jack, snorted coke, and dropped acid up until a couple years before his death, but no one called him an addict.