Part IV – The Limbic System and Stupid Brain Tricks

“Imagine trying to live without air. Now imagine something worse.” — Amy Reed, Author

Welcome to installment 4 of the of the science of addiction, The Limbic System and Stupid Brain Tricks. In the two prior installments we discussed the dopamine response, how it is corrupted by addiction and how it alters the addict’s brain. As I have already said many times, I believe that it is important for an addict to take ownership of their actions/mistakes that allowed the addiction to start but once started, it rapidly spiraled out of control and deprived them or their ability to stop on their own. This installment will discuss another area of the brain that is altered by addiction and what I believe the changes there represent. Finally, in this section I want to discuss tricks that the brain uses to help protect and preserve the addiction. It is this section that I hope will inspire people in recovery to share their ideas and experiences.

The Limbic System, It’s Not the Latest Fad in Aerobic Exercise

In the last installment, I mentioned that the NIDA (National Institute of Drug Addiction) studied brain scans to look for changes that result from drug addiction. One of the things that became apparent is that the changes that occur in the brain are common to all addiction not just drugs (including alcohol). They observed changes in the prefrontal cortex (see Part I) and in the activity of dopamine receptors (see Parts II and III). They also observed changes in brain activity in an area known as the limbic system.

The limbic system is not a single structure but rather a collection of structures. The term has fallen out of favor in scientific literature but is very useful for this discussion. This area of the brain controls more primitive drives such as hunger; thirst; and fight or flight. It also handles emotions; is very active in the dopamine system; and it influences autonomic responses, that is, responses that you do not have conscious control over. Basically, the limbic system handles very import drives and responds to them without you thinking about it. Once again, the amazing design that we are handles things that we don’t want to have to think about like are we hungry or thirsty or terrified and it gives an automatic response.

What Do the Changes in the Limbic System Mean?

I believe that the changes in the limbic system are indicative of the step from desiring a drug to needing a drug. This step is when true addiction sets in and the brain has come to believe that the drug is necessary for survival, just like food or water. This was hammered home to me by my own son when he was trying to explain to me how powerful his cravings were. He told me, “It is like you are absolutely dying of thirst and you can’t get a drink.” Sounds like the limbic system.

You can also do a thought exercise to see this. Take a minute and picture in your mind a long-term heavy using addict, someone my son would have called “shot out”. What do you see? Dirty, unkempt, maybe acne, maybe track marks, not looking you in the eye, and skinny. Always skinny. Why, because their brain is prioritizing the drug over food. Remember the rat experiment in Part III, they were directly stimulating the limbic system to create the dopamine-like response and the rats died because they went for the dopamine response and did not eat.

As we have discussed before, what our brain knows is what is real to us regardless of how others see it. If our brain knows that we must have opiates, cocaine, crystal meth, alcohol, etc. to survive, that will control how we act. We will do whatever we must to overcome the obstacles that prevent us from getting what we need. If you were literally starving to death, would you lie, would you steal, would you eat food that might be bad or poisoned? Of course you would, you would die without it.

Time for My Soapbox

Addicts are not bad people or people of poor character. They are people whose mind has been altered by their addiction such that their brain believes the must have their drug of choice. In this stage of addiction, they act like one of poor character, but once they have had sufficient time in recovery they return to the fine people that they were. They may be even better than they were for having gone through the tremendous struggles that they had to endure. I have met some of these people because of my son and there are no finer people in this world. I believe that we owe it to all our fellow man (and woman) to help them stay alive and to help them recover from whatever affliction they may have. This will not be without setbacks and frustrations. This will not be without cost. But we will be rewarded by the presence, knowledge, and understanding of great people who have seen great darkness and with help rose above it.

Stupid Brain Tricks

I have titled this section stupid brain tricks because I want to discuss some of the things that the brain does to maintain addiction because it believes that the addiction is necessary for survival. But first, I must confess that I use the terms “we” and “us” to be inclusive and to denote how small the space is between being an addict and not being an addict. I am not an addict. I am one of the lucky people that drank too much for a time and then was able to walk away from it. More on why I say it was luck in the next installment. I did learn a great deal about addiction through discussions with my son during the way too short time that he was here.

Withdrawal

The first thing that functions to preserve our addiction is not a stupid brain trick. It is physical withdrawal and it is horrible. So horrible that it is terrifying to an addict. I was told by an administrator at a rehab facility that alcohol may kill you during withdrawal (approximately 1% of very heavy long-term drinkers) but opiate withdrawal will make you wish you were dead. We may discuss this further in later blog entries.

Panic Attacks

I am not sure if panic attacks are part of the physical withdrawal or just a very extreme mind trick. My son experienced panic attacks while he was in rehab going through physical withdrawal. He was in an absolute state of panic, like he was about to die. These were some of the most horrible phone calls that I ever experienced. He was insisting that we had to come get him. He thought that he couldn’t stand being confined any longer. We, however, knew that this was the result of his addicted brain realizing that it could not get the drugs that it needed.

Cravings

Cravings probably originate in the limbic system and they are there to make you pursue the drug that you need. Your brain is in effect trying to force you to go get your drug of choice and use. Cravings are relentless! My son explained it this way, “I get up in the morning and I am dying to use. I am driving to work, and I have to fight not to take a detour and go buy. It’s not terrible when I am busy at work but as soon as there is a break I feel that I must use. This goes on all day and is worst when I am laying in bed at night.” This is where groups like AA do tremendous work. They provide meetings to keep you busy. They provide support and understanding at these meetings. They provide someone, your sponsor, whom you can call when the fight is particularly difficult, and they will counsel you and share their experience.

Triggers

Triggers are things that remind you of using and trigger stronger cravings. Triggers are sensory things that you associate with using and they are the result of conditioning, as we discussed in earlier installments. Triggers can be things like: your dealers cologne or cigarettes; the road that you took to go buy; music you listened to when you used; the place that you typically used; food you ate when or after you used (my son ate popcorn a lot, probably when or right before he used); or having cash in your pocket. Triggers are everywhere and while it is best to try to avoid them in the early stages of recovery you must eventually learn to manage them.

Drug Dreams

My son would tell me about the panic that he would feel when he awoke from a particularly real dream that he had used. He said that it was so real that he felt just like he did when he got loaded and he would be panicked that the had just thrown his recovery away. Can you image such a nightmare? It sounded absolutely horrifying to me.

There are more stupid brain tricks that we may get into in a later post. These examples are some illustration of the struggles that addicts must endure to gain a foothold in recovery, in order to get to the place where they can begin to use their own willpower to continue to manage their addiction.

Do you have thoughts or experiences to share? Please comment, let’s work together and help each other to understand this problem.
I hope that you will join me next week for “Nature and Nurture Decide”.