TED talk on addiction

[Londoner]

https://www.ted.com/talks/johann_hari_everything_you_think_you_know_about_ad diction_is_wrong

I'm not sure if this was posted on here already, but an interesting talk on addiction.

The idea that addiction is isolation.

When I think of this, it rings true. I am around people, but I never open up. Even to friends and family. I am closed off.

And so I drink heavily.

And I do stupid things, that are not in line with my self image.

And so I feel guilty. And I don't share this. And I make back stories to cover my 'tracks'.

And so I feel even more isolated. And then I drink again. And I do even more stupid stuff. And the cycle continues.

Maybe, just maybe. I need to work on being vulnerable. To having a better social support circle in place.

I'd be interested to hear your thoughts on the video or the basic concept.

[Knitty]

Hi Londoner, I love TED talks and I am very interested in this, although I have a crazy full day so I'm going to watch/listen at the weekend. I never open up to anyone (except here perhaps), even husband/close family (after being made fun of and put down repeatedly for my thoughts/comments when much younger - I'm a sensitive gal) and then I stopped seeing friends around 9 years ago, worked at home during the day and stayed home in the evenings so I could drink, so what you said rings true for me too. I have actually been thinking of ways to "join society again" now that I am 17 days AF. Thank you so much for the link!

[Dutch1988]

I agree as well. Watching the Ted talk reminded me a lot of my own life and feelings of isolation. Although I interact with people a great deal at my work, it is definitely not my true personality, that is the nature of work I guess. I really have not connected with too many people since high school in a way I consider them more than acquaintances, even when I stopped drinking I unknowingly was throwing myself into more social situations than I otherwise would, have a friend to workout with at the gym, making friends at the school I grapple at, etc. I also notice I scroll facebook now to "de-stress" at the end of the day, but I am probably just looking for ways to connect with others. Curse more introverted nature, but this forum definitely helps give me a place to connect to help replace alcohol.

[Overit-still]

Agreed. I won't go to the gym after a night of drinking because I don't want people to see me. I only drink at home because I know I can't control my actions when I drink, I won't interact with people once I have started drinking.

[Wavey]

Great talk. Everyone should watch this!

[Guitarista]

I sure wasn't drinking with the crowd, socially or publicly when i drank. I didn't want anyone to see me. The self esteem comes crashing down. Way down to dangerous levels where i just don't care anymore about myself. G'day Wavey!

Here's the you tube link. Hope it works across the water.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PY9DcIMGxMs

[Turnagain]

I am an avid TED Talk fan myself - In fact, I generally listen to one just about every day and love to absorb new ideas and information. That is why I feel a bit like the grinch right now for what I need to share about Johann Hari's Ted Talk. I am actually not a grinch, but I am someone who wasted years beating up myself and staying mired in addiction a whole lot longer because of the mountains of misconceptions out there.

There has actually been quite a bit of criticism of Hari's glib treatment of the physiological aspect of addiction in his most recent book. He has made a lot of leaps in logic based on anecdotes and discredited research. Hari's circular reasoning seems to push the notion that no one would ever be addicted if they just weren't isolated and had a clear sense of purpose and belonging. After all, people who get medical heroin "for 20 days' at the hospital don't end up addicted, right? Bottom line, Hari attempts to shove the pendulum of addiction misconceptions from "it's YOUR fault" to "it's society's fault for criminalizing drug use by people who are bored, lonely, alienated or otherwise isolated."

There's so much wrong about this approach it's hard to know where to start. To begin with, people can and DO become addicted to drugs as a result of a hospital stay. Most may not have the street cred to keep up a heroin addiction, but there are plenty of alternatives. And alcohol, as we all know, happens to be one of the easiest drugs to buy and use since it is not only legal and cheap, but quite acceptable in our culture.

If we all lived in a perfect world like the rodents in "Rat Park" and never ever experienced stress or trauma, then perhaps none of us would be addicted to anything either. But that is not the real world for any of us. And when we are physiologically stressed and use an addictive substance over an extended period of time, the consequence is addiction. Some of us just take longer than others to get to the point of compulsive use. Drugs physically alter the brain's chemistry as well as its structure. Those alterations cause us to seek more and more and always more.

In this past decade, there have been tremendous advances in understanding how the brain works, but there's still a long way to go before we can fully understand the mechanisms of addiction and why some people are more vulnerable to addiction than others. Yet, even without all those detailed answers, it is already a proven fact that addiction IS caused by the substance NOT the substance user. And that knowledge is the essential starting point for healing from addiction.