The Addiction Epidemic
The Roots And How To Let Go Of Obsessive Thoughts And Behaviours
Disclaimer: Please note that I’m not a medical doctor or medical-know-it-all. The material is provided for general guidance and inspirational purposes only. Please always consult with your healthcare provider and do your own critical research.
Mental health issues are increasing worldwide. This is not surprising given how much the world has changed during the past two years with all kinds of restrictions and fear porn that the media is spreading. Especially addictions have become more and more common. We have become hooked on everything from digital media, junk food, sex, alcohol, drugs, gambling, cosmetic procedures, online shopping, fear, social media likes,… you name it! In particular, our smartphones and digital media are sucking our time in increasing amounts. They can become our safety blanket, and a tool to numb ourselves from pain. Moreover, some of them can give us a false sense of control in the unpredictable and radically changing world.
We live in a dopamine economy that is driven by modern market forces and technological innovations. We have a natural tendency to overvalue short-term rewards over longer-term ones but this dopamine driven, fiat Ponzi scheme economy has taken everything to a whole new level. We are looking for immediate gratification and get frustrated if we don’t get what we want right a way. It seems that most of us can’t just live with their own thoughts and instead are seeking ways to distract themselves from the present moment. What makes constant phone and digital media checking so scary is that it compromises our attention spans, which can hinder future planning, deep problem solving and personality development. As a result, we are losing our capability to delay gratification, solve problems and deal with frustration and pain.
Have we now reached the point where our phones and other tech devices have become part of our identity and extension to our minds? And why are we so desperately looking for pleasure and so scared of feeling pain? Are we heading towards Aldous Huxley’s dystopia Brave New World where people are emotionally engineered and taking doses of soma to be happy and escape the truth?
Our Addictions
I recently read a book, Dopamine Nation by Dr. Anna Lembke, which I can highly recommend if you struggle with addiction(s) or want to help and or understand someone struggling. In her book Dr. Lembke gives a following broad definition for an addiction: continued and compulsive consumption of a substance or behaviour despite its harm to self and or others. In her book she explains why addictions have become so common and how addictions can manifest in varying degrees. We live in the era of compulsive overconsumption: everywhere people are looking at their phones too much, eating too much, drinking too much. And almost everything is easily accessible. When it comes to addictions, it’s important to understand what is healthy and normal for one, may not be for the other. This all comes down to bio-individuality: we always need to look at the bigger picture. We have a problem when we can’t focus on anything else, have anxiety, and struggle with obsessive thoughts and behaviours.
Dr Anna Lembke shared with Andrew Huberman, Ph.D how certain personal characteristics can correlate with addictions. Like people who are impulsive by their nature. People with addictive tendencies tend to become bored with “normal” life easily. This is something that resonated with me personally. I can get deeply passionate about something and absolutely hooked on things. I love the trill, learning and challenge. I often struggle with living “normal” life (whatever that means) and I know I’m certainly not the only one. However, over the years I have learnt to understand that life can sometimes feel a bit boring and it cannot always be glitz and glamour - and that is ok. As long as I have interesting and challenging hobbies I can live with that normalcy. Furthermore, mindfulness practises have helped me to have mental tools to cope with my thoughts and emotions. This doesn’t mean I wouldn’t have bad days. Of course, I do like everyone else.
Digital media is definitely something that many of us have become hooked on at least mildly. When you look around you, you can see how the vast majority of people are glued to their phones. If we don’t educate ourselves about the dangers of digital media and learn critical skills to use our devices smartly, things are going to spiral completely out of our control - especially now that AI (artificial intelligence) is added to the mix. I highly recommend delving into the work of Tristan Harris and Cal Newport if you think you may have built an unhealthy attachment to your tech devices.
Another great example of our vices in this modern world is overeating, and shockingly binge eating disorder is the most common eating disorder and often goes undiagnosed because most of these sufferers are either normal or overweight, and thus, don’t fit the stereotypical image of someone suffering from eating disorder. In some ways food addictions are trickier than for instance drugs because there’s no such thing as never starting in the first place, or never touching food again. We cannot only blame individuals and say that they lack discipline and are lazy. Michael Moss has written and talked about how the food industry and scientists are literally engineering highly addictive foods and taking advantage of our vulnerabilities. When that is combined with brilliant marketing and government subsidies to keep prices low, the perfect trap for the average human being is created. This is nothing new since the Big Food has been creating the most innovative chemical-sugar-salt-and-fat cocktails for decades but now they have become more creative and started even labelling artificial vegan and gluten-free junk as healthy - yet, they are far from it!
Interesting and in certain industries celebrated thing is the case of workaholism. Many are willing to do whatever they need to do in the hopes of higher rewards and career promotions. True: if you want to survive in highly competitive environments and have plenty of responsibilities, you either need to adapt or go home. But here’s the question: what do you value most in your life? Potential promotions and money (that may never even happen) or your health and well-being? I believe you can have both, be healthy and vital and do financially well without the need to go to extremes. It’s not the quantity alone that matters but more the quality of the work that you do. If you are consistently sacrificing your good night sleep and not exercising, in the long term this will show in the quality of the work and of course in your overall health and wellbeing. There are individual differences in stress tolerance: some do better in high stress environments than others. If you can do 90-hour work weeks as well as keep your sanity, stay fit and healthy - good for you! There’s no way I could personally do that in a healthy way and without drugs. And here’s the nasty truth, no matter how much money you make, you can never travel back in time! Having said that remember to live your life before it’s too late.
Overall, we have become addicted to ever-more superficial things like botox injections, designer shoes, junk sex, gambling. Of course, the classical addictions like alcoholism and drugs haven’t faded away either. And the opioid epidemic and the increasing use of anti-depressants show that many of us are far from ok. Unfortunately, these drugs can make our pain and depression even worse over the long haul. Sadly, we live in the world where we tend to over-diagnose and over-medicate everything.
What Keeps Us Hooked?
In her book Dr. Lembke shares in detail how dopamine - among the most important neurotransmitters in reward processing - is used to measure addictive potential of any behaviour or drug. She goes on to explain how pleasure and pain work like a balance. If we constantly look for dopamine boost, we can built tolerance or neuroadaptation, meaning we need more of a substance to feel pleasure or experience less pleasure at a given dose. Eventually the substance or behaviour stops working. This is because of our brain’s ability readapt and come back to homeostasis. As a result, we want more and more to feel satisfied.
Another thing that has increased addictions is accessibility. For instance in the case of food addictions, home delivered meals are just a click away. Moreover, many previously known unhealthy and bad things are now marketed as healthy or less harmful. Think about vape pens and artificial gluten-free junk! And clever marketing and story telling tricks do not end here. More than ever before we are made to believe that life is supposed to be always happy, picture perfect and that it is so important that we find our “passion in life”, and if you feel any pain, take a pill or two! Why are we trying to run away from pain and uncomfortable feelings? It seems that the more we are trying to believe these stories and pretend we have a “perfect” life, the more we suffer.
Another interesting aspect that Dr. Lembke points out is that today more and more people have more spare time than ever before in human history. At the same time our life has become in many ways “easier” leaving us with completely new types of problems such as boredom and how to deal with negative emotions. The so-called first world problems indeed are now in fashion. Now that most of us don’t need to suffer from hunger or need to fight in wars, we have had to create new kinds of problems to our daily lives.
One of the biggest challenges today are technological advancements with exponential growth curve. There’s no way the average individual can keep up anymore! I have said this before and I’ll repeat: technology itself is not good or bad, it’s all about how we use it on an individual and societal level including major corporations. Sadly, very little is talked about the ethics and dangers. Very few people even want to face uncomfortable questions about our (human species) role in the world with robotics and artificial intelligence. Already today artificial intelligence and machine learning are used to create “personalised” and highly addictive content, and our personal data and attention online have become highly valuable for many tech companies that create persuasive technology.
What Can We Do To Safe Ourselves
In order to leave our addictive tendencies we need to learn to tolerate pain. The healing process and action steps needed varies case by case - and you are very likely to need a support of a skilled professional. Some may need a more intense and longer stay in a rehabilitation centre whereas others can be absolutely ok after a 4-week dopamine fasting from their drug of choice.
Awareness And Radical Honesty
The number one thing is to become aware of your addictions or addictive tendencies. Radical honesty is necessary for recovery because only the truth and honesty can set us free. You have to be brutally honest with yourself and others to heal yourself. No more lies! This is also a moral principle in every major religion and code of ethics for a life well lived. Of course you need to be willing to make a change. You can’t make and force someone to recover if they have chosen an intimate relationship with their addiction(s) until death do them part.
Planning And Setting Boundaries
As I explained earlier, our addictions are not only due to our lack of willpower, since there are behavioural scientists, massive corporations with money behind to do everything they can to keep us hooked on their products and services. If we do not plan ahead and set boundaries to ourselves, we are way more likely to be controlled. In the case of social media consumption and smartphones, set yourself specific time limits and keep your smartphone in a separate room or deep in your handbag when you are supposed to focus on your work or when you are meeting someone. Personally I cannot keep my phone next to me when I’m trying to deeply focus on something. What has also helped me hugely is to delete all unnecessary and time consuming apps. We don’t need that many and you may surprise yourself how much you are wasting your precious time and life with them. For instance, after three years of swiping left 99.9999% of the time I decided to delete one legendary and addictive dating app. Now almost half a year later I can say I have more headspace and zero regrets. The other thing which can help to build a healthier relationship to your smartphone is to turn off most notifications.
Mindfulness And Exciting Hobbies
Since many of us don’t want to feel bored, we need to re-learn to sit still and breathe just with our own thoughts and emotions, and learn to observe them without attachment. This is called mindfulness, and yoga and especially meditation are excellent tools to get there. Additionally, having interesting and challenging hobbies can definitely help you to be inspired and get healthy doses of dopamine.
Kindness And Compassion
Lastly, whether it’s you or your loved one who struggles, remember to approach with kindness and compassion. Blaming and shaming never helps. We need to remember that no one wants to become an addict - the inability to stop is at the heart of addiction.
Lots of Love!
RECOMMENDED RESOURCES:
Books
Dopamine Nation: Finding Balance in the Age of Indulgence by Dr Anna Lembke
Brave New World by Aldous Huxley
Podcasts
Diet Doctor Podcast #73: Michael Moss
Rich Roll #623: Anna Lembke, MD On The Neuroscience of Addiction
Huberman Lab: Defeat Addiction With Dr. Anna Lembke