Addiction Recovery
Recovery from addiction is possible. An integrative approach is very important.
Anne Wilson Schaef Ph.D, a renowned psychotherapist, author of the bestselling 1987 book When Society Becomes an Addict, and organizational consultant who works with Fortune 500 corporations and branches of the U.S. government, wrote, “[addicts wrongly] persist in viewing themselves as bad people trying to become good, not as sick people trying to get well.”
The NADA Protocol
Starting in 1974, the South Bronx's Lincoln Recovery Center spent 10 years developing the basic five ear-points NADA protocol, initially for the treatment of addiction. During that time the Black Panther activist organization began using and popularizing the treatment for narcotic drug withdrawal with good success. After seeing significant potential for widespread benefit, they determined a need for a national-level organization to expand training capacity and awareness of the value of acupuncture as a tool of recovery. The National Acupuncture Detoxification Association (NADA), a not-for-profit training and advocacy organization, was thus established to encourage community wellness through the use of a standardized auricular acupuncture protocol for behavioral health, including addictions, mental health, and disaster & emotional trauma.
The NADA Protocol has been used in thousands of programs around the world to address addiction epidemics, environmental disaster and human-caused trauma relief, and acute pain management. Those receiving the NADA Protocol do not have to wait to feel its benefit, as parasympathetic nervous system (the "rest and digest" aspect, as opposed to the sympathetic nervous system, which is the "fight or flight" aspect) is stimulated generally within minutes. Survivors of traumatic events and natural disasters report ear acupuncture to be useful in alleviating symptoms of Post Traumatic and Acute Stress Disorders. Participant surveys demonstrate increased mental clarity, ability to cope, alertness, ability to sleep, reductions of pain and muscle spasm, depression, anxiety, and intrusive recall. This very simple acupuncture protocol can have a calming and transformative effect without requiring the client to talk through their feelings or experience.
How Addiction Changes the Brain
Today, addiction is recognized as a chronic disease that changes both brain structure and function. In the same way that cardiovascular disease damages the heart's ability to properly circulate blood, addiction alters and disrupts brain function.
In a healthy brain, the release of the neurotransmitter dopamine stimulates a feeling of pleasure; it signals to the body that it has received a reward. This takes place in a region of the brain called the nucleus accumbens, a cluster of nerve cells that is so consistently tied with pleasure that it is often referred to as the brain’s pleasure/reward center. Dopamine also plays a role in learning and memorizing, key elements that help the body distinguish liking something from becoming addicted to it. The interaction between dopamine and another transmitter, glutamate, controls what is called the reward circuit, which links activities needed for human survival - such as eating and sex - with pleasure and reward.
Addictive substances and behaviors cause an unusually strong surge of dopamine, 2 to 10 times that of a natural reward, flooding the nucleus accumbens and creating an incredibly potent pleasure response. The body becomes dependent on this over time, as the brain adapts to its new input levels and then needs stronger and stronger amounts of dopamine release to feel any sort of pleasure.
Because of the interaction with glutamate, the also body memorizes what it is that stimulates the pleasure, and a very strong drive to fulfill the pleasure mechanism is learned. The hippocampus and the amygdala store information about environmental cues associated with the desired substance or behavior, so that it can be located and had again. These memories help create a conditioned response, the intense craving for the reward of dopamine release, whenever the person encounters those environmental cues. Correspondingly, the usually pleasurable stimuli of daily lives, such as spending time with loved ones or eating a delicious meal, become less associated with the feeling of reward.
The level of addiction of a particular drug is directly linked to the speed, intensity, and reliability of its subsequent dopamine release.
Other Resources
Mental Health First Aid www.mentalhealthfirstaid.org
Temple Wedge Opioid Treatment Program for Pregnant Women and their Partners
215-276-3922
3609 North Broad St.
Philadelphia, PA 19140
Septa Broad Street Line: Erie
Healthy Minds Philly
888-545-2600
www.healthymindsphilly.org
ARTICLE: Addictive Systems by Anne Wilson Shaef
ARTICLE: So Many People Are Badly Traumatized by Life in America: It's Time We Admit It by Lynn Stuart Parramore
U.S. Dept. of Health and Human Services: About the Opioid Epidemic
https://www.hhs.gov/opioids/about-the-epidemic/index.html
Center for Disease Control, National Center for Injury Prevention and Control
www.cdc.gov/vitalsigns/opioid-prescribing
More On Addiction...
Nearly 23 million Americans, almost 1 in 10, are addicted to alcohol or other drugs. Addictive pain relievers are over-prescribed by medical professionals. Additionally, rampant trauma and stress are wildly mismanaged by American culture, creating inflammation in the body which primes it for physical and psychological illness, including addiction and addictive behavior.
Lynn Stuart Parramore, in her 2014 article, So Many People Are Badly Traumatized by Life in America: It's Time We Admit It, describes, “Our voices are not heard. When our government does pay attention to us, the focus seems to be more on intimidation and control than addressing our needs. We are surveilled through our phones and laptops. As the New York Times has recently reported, a surge in undercover operations from a bewildering array of agencies has unleashed an army of unsupervised rogues poised to spy upon and victimize ordinary people rather than challenge the real predators who pillage at will. Aggressive and militarized police seem more likely to harm us than to protect us, even to mow us down if necessary. Our policies amplify the harm. The mentally ill are locked away in solitary confinement, and even left there to die. Pregnant women in need of medical treatment are arrested and criminalized. Young people simply trying to get an education are crippled with debt. The elderly are left to wander the country in RVs in search of temporary jobs. If you’ve seen yourself as part of the middle class, you may have noticed cries of agony ripping through your ranks in ways that once seemed to belong to worlds far away. If you have fewer resources, the terror is even more immediate, the trauma more searing. A 2012 study of hospital patients in Atlanta’s inner-city communities showed that rates of post-traumatic stress are now on par with those of veterans returning from war zones. At least 1 out of 3 surveyed said they had experienced stress responses like flashbacks, persistent fear, a sense of alienation, and aggressive behavior. When our alarm systems are set off too often, they start to malfunction, and we can end up in a state of hyper-vigilance, unable to properly assess the threats. It’s easy for the powerful to manipulate this tense condition and present an array of bogeymen to distract our attention, from immigrants to the unemployed, so that we focus our energy on the wrong enemy. Guns give a false sense of control, and hatred of those who do not look like us channels our impotent rage. Meanwhile, dietary supplements and prescription painkillers lure us into thinking that if we just find the right pill, we can shut off the sound of the sirens. Popular culture brings us movies with loud explosions that deafen us to what’s crashing all around us… Trauma is not just about experiencing wars and sexual violence, though there is plenty of that. Psychology researchers have discussed trauma as something intense that happens in your life that you can’t adequately respond to, and which causes you long-lasting negative effects. It’s something that leaves you fixated and stuck, acting out your unresolved feelings over and over. Unfortunately, the cycle doesn’t end with you: trauma comes with a very high rate of interest. The children of traumatized people carry the legacy of pain forward in their brains and bodies, becoming more vulnerable to disease, mental breakdown, addiction, and violence.” Read the full article HERE.
Because trauma predisposes a person to addiction, it is not surprising that the United States Department of Health and Human Services has recently reported, "Our nation is in the midst of an unprecedented opioid epidemic. More people died from drug overdoses in 2014 than in any year on record, and the majority of drug overdose deaths (more than 6 out of 10) involved an opioid. Since 1999, the rate of overdose deaths involving opioids — including prescription opioid pain relievers and heroin — nearly quadrupled, and over 165,000 people have died from prescription opioid overdoses. Prescription pain medication deaths remain far too high, and in 2014, the most recent year on record, there was a sharp increase in heroin-involved deaths and an increase in deaths involving synthetic opioids such as fentanyl. Prevention, treatment, research, and effective responses to rapidly reverse opioid overdoses are critical to fighting the epidemic."
Addiction and addictive behavior can be healed, and recovery is possible. Addiction is treated through a multifaceted approach including: restoring the normal function of neurotransmitter release and cognitive pathways, pain perception reduction via acupuncture and other non-narcotic techniques, trauma counseling and therapy, and stress management practices, among others.
Prevention of addiction is equally important and can be facilitated by good prescribing practices, talk therapy, and stress management practices like meditation, Qi Gong, Yoga, dance, art and music.