1. Making Sense of Addiction Behaviors Larry Tyler, M.Ed., LADC, CCS

2. As a result of attending this lecture, participants will…
As a result of attending this lecture, participants will…
Have a better understanding of how drug use generates antisocial behavior
Learn how changes in the limbic system create drug cravings, tolerance and relapse
Recognize common patterns of behavior in early recovery
Understand the therapeutic strategies that are used in treatment programs

3. “Why Do Drug Addicts Do What They Do?”
Why do they start using drugs again after they’ve gotten through their withdrawal?
Don’t they care about their children?
If they claim to hate themselves, then why are they so selfish?
Why do they deny things that are obviously true?
Why is their behavior even worse when they get sober?

4. What makes us tick: The brain attempts to keep the body in balance
(homeostasis)
The brain is elastic and resilient…but only to a point
The brain reacts quickly…but counter-reacts slowly
afterward

5. We react quickly…and calm down slowly
Traumatic Event: High Arousal (sympathetic nervous system)
Is followed by Low Arousal (parasympathetic nervous system)
We react quickly…and calm down slowly

6. What makes us tick: The limbic system “flags” outside stimuli, labels
Prefrontal Cortex
What makes us tick:
The limbic system “flags” outside stimuli, labels
emotions and stores memories
The brain releases neurotransmitters (epinephrine,
dopamine, endorphins, etc.) to flag events
The prefrontal cortex produces conscious thoughts;
planning, contemplating, deciding
The limbic system recognizes outside stimuli before the
prefrontal cortex does

7. What is happiness?

8. What we call pleasure, and rightly so, is the absence of all pain
-Cicero

9. Pleasure is never as pleasant as we expected it to be and pain is always more painful. The pain in the world always outweighs the pleasure. If you don't believe it, compare the respective feelings of two animals, one of which is eating the other.
-Schopenhauer

10. What is happiness? The brain’s basic function: Homeostasis
Dopamine is our reward for enjoyable experiences
Pleasure is meant to be brief
We all try to extend pleasure

11. THE HEDONIC SET POINT
(The level at which we are aware of pleasure)

12. What is happiness?
The hedonic set point is the threshold at which the brain
recognizes pleasure and reacts to it
Dopamine: The “reward neurotransmitter” (“That feels
good, better than I expected…I’ll do it again.”)
Dopamine depletion: A subnormal release of dopamine
(This feels horrible…How can I stop this from happening
to me?”)

13. - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
Normal Level of Dopamine Release

14. A dopamine-rewarding event X
A dopamine-rewarding event

15. - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -X

16. - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -X

17. - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -X

18. - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -X

19. - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -X

20. - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -X

21. What Goes Up…

22. What Goes Up…
Must Come Down

23. What Goes Up…
Must Come Down
It’s The Law!!

24. Why won’t the brain just let us be happy all the time???

25. But It Doesn’t Intend Pleasure To Be Permanent
The Brain Flags Pleasurable Experiences So We Will Remember Them And Return To Them…
But It Doesn’t Intend Pleasure To Be Permanent

26. The Brain Cannot Tolerate Chaos
Homeostasis requires balance, order, consistency
When the brain can’t makes sense of something, it
confabulates
It struggles to make the illogical logical
Every time we recall an event, we bring forth the
memory, and return it to the hippocampus altered
Our values are important to us. When we breach our
values, we struggle to justify our behavior
WHAT
WHAT DOES THIS THIS SAY?

27. How does the limbic system handle the
“invasion” of drugs into our body?
Tolerance
Craving
Withdrawal
Relapse
(All triggered by the limbic system)

28. How does the limbic system handle the
“invasion” of drugs into our body?
Tolerance
Craving
Withdrawal
Relapse
(All triggered by the limbic system)
What do drugs teach us?
Greed
Instant gratification
Subservience (You’ll be punished if caught)
Hopelessness

29. Treatment is deliberately designed to counter
What do drugs teach us?
Greed
Instant Gratification
Subservience (You’ll be punished if caught)
Hopelessness
Treatment is deliberately designed to counter
the lessons taught by drugs by emphasizing
Positive social interaction
Delayed gratification
Thoughtfulness and constructive planning
Hope

30. Replacing Dopamine as a teacher
Counteracting these antisocial traits and behaviors:
Manipulation
Lying
Irresponsibility
Lack of empathy
Burying/concealing shame
Blaming

31. Treatment attempts to reverse everything the brain learned in addiction:
Reactivate the prefrontal cortex
Learn/re-learn coping skills
Become a social animal
Develop self respect

32. Post-acute Withdrawal Syndrome Revolt of the Limbic System
Early Recovery
Post-acute Withdrawal Syndrome
Revolt of the Limbic System
Physical Withdrawal is Acute…
Psychological Effects are Prolonged

33. The Challenges of Recovery
Everything you know and do has to change
The speed of positive results is going to slow way down
The road back to everything that is “familiar and
comfortable” (i.e., relapse) is quick and easy.

34. As a result of attending this lecture, participants will…
As a result of attending this lecture, participants will…
Have a better understanding of how drug use generates antisocial behavior
Learn how changes in the limbic system create drug cravings, tolerance and relapse
Recognize common patterns of behavior in early recovery
Understand the therapeutic strategies that are used in treatment programs