Category Archives: Health

Pharmacology of Addiction

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School just started up again and I’ve been busy with my Pharmacology of Addiction class.  The ideas presented in class have been bringing up a lot of thoughts regarding the biochemical changes that could be occurring during the dark night of the senses (St. John the Cross – Catholic) and the releasing of the fetters of craving that is part of second path (Stages of Enlightenment – Theravada Buddhism).  Needless to say, I’ve been having a lot of thoughts trying to put the pieces together in away that I can talk/write about them.

In the class we are being taught how substance use changes the brain in fundamental and long-lasting ways.  Some of the researchers are suggesting the changes may be permanent, but we know this cannot possibly be true.  Healing techniques like ThetaHealing and the testimony of enlightened beings demonstrate that everything can be healed and changed.  Very few things are permanent and unchanging.  And all changing things only last a moment before most of them are recreated again.

What changes in the brain with drug use?

First, the substance being used becomes a salient focus.  This is because the substance is such a good activator of the pleasure and reward system (or mesolimbic dopamine system) in the brain.   After we start using a drug it changes our brain.  In any environment we find ourselves, we notice our drug of choice and associated things effortlessly and they will begin to occupy more and more of our attention.  This is what I mean by the substance becoming a salient focus.  This change isn’t because of a conscious shift.  It is a biological shift.  The biochemical and neurological changes the substance creates in the brain result in compulsive and uncontrollable drug seeking behavior.  Interesting and scary!

Increased dopamine leads to pleasure, and normally we release dopamine when we do normal activities that are pleasurable:  being with people we love, eating good food, and doing enjoyable activities.  However, drugs are such powerful stimulators of the pleasure circuit that they decrease our endogenously produced dopamine. This means that they exhaust our dopamine stores and our ability to produce more dopamine.

This reduction in dopamine results in two things.  First using the drug no longer gets us “high”.  Long term we become dependent of the drug just to keep us feeling normal.  We have to hit that pleasure center hard in order to get any pleasure feelings once we’ve adapted to using.  The second problem is that if we stop using the drug it may take over a year to reestablish normal dopamine.  This means we will not get pleasure out of activities that gave us pleasure before we started using our drug of choice.  We have to recalibrate.  During the recalibration period we will feel depressed and if we are not aware of the “detox” process we are going through we may become quite hopeless.

The other intriguing part of the addiction and craving process is the development of condition responses and memory.  An example of a condition response would be getting cravings when driving though a neighborhood where you used to use or obtain the substance you used. A condition response includes not just flashbacks, but also biochemical changes in the body.

I remember the first time I had non-alcoholic wine when I was abstaining from alcohol.  I was shocked when my body reacted by having some of the same feelings as if I was buzzed.  Now, some people think this is because the label claims that there may be 0.5% alcohol in the bottle.  These people claim I really am having alcohol.  This is not true.  I was a wine chemist at the time and I personally knew that that bottle didn’t have any appreciable alcohol.  I was experiencing a conditioned response.  Further, I’ve always used alcoholic tinctures which were made of high proof alcohol without any noticeable effects.

Here is another interesting point made in the class in regards to conditioning to drug use.  An addict that always shoots up in a certain environment may overdose if they shoot up in a novel environment.  This is because the body “knows” that in the first environment the drug is coming and before it enters the veins the body has ramped up to detoxify it.  In the new environment the body is not prepared to handle the dose and that may result in death.

What is especially relevant is that the drug addiction process is really just a dramatization of the problems that most people take as normal.  Most people’s predicament is that they crave and seek out things that are pleasurable and crave that things that are unpleasant will end.  The drug addict will lie, cheat, steal, and harm others to get what they want.  However, that is the same list that the “average” person is dealing with.  The drug addict may do this list in a more dramatic fashion, but I know “average” people that will tell a “white” lie to get a job, will not tell the teller at check-out when she forgets to ring up a purchase and will call people names when they are feeling uncomfortable.

It seems to me that addictive and “non-addictive” cravings control most human behavior.  The problem is just on a continuum.   It would seem the solution could be similar as well.  And if the pharmacologists are right, it is going to require some major rewiring.

Mid-Life Crisis

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I was 32 years old when I had my “mid-life crisis”. It was at that time I had achieved, or nearly achieved, everything I wanted in my life.  My foundation seemed complete and everything else was on cruise control.  This plummeted me into an emotional place where I could rally no happiness or contentment.

My August 1, 1997 journal entry:

June/July were very difficult.  I was doing 5+ meetings a week; treading water, not feeling any relief.  I was without words to accurately describe it.  Sometimes it was strong emotional pain without a current cause to explain it.  Then I was feeling dissatisfaction.  I was walking around saying, “I have everything” and not feeling the way I expected.  I expected joy to happen when I had everything.

What I was reacting to, with my depression, was the realization that my outside circumstances do not make me happy.  What is outside me is transient and even if something gives me pleasure it is a pleasure that does not last.  On the path to enlightenment this would be considered the first step.

I would not have sought to end my suffering with a spiritual solution if I had not realized first that the material world could not provide me with satisfaction.  My depression was simply a reaction to the loss of that illusion.  If I had not so strongly thought that getting a stable home and the community I was looking for could bring me happiness I would not have been so pained when I realized it was not true.

It wasn’t until a decade later that I “discovered” that the Buddha taught how to find everlasting peace and joy.  Perhaps, my dark period would not have been so difficult if I had know there really was an alternative.  I was told I had to accept life on life’s terms.  While that is good advice for finding peace in the moment, the Buddha taught how to take control and change life to create a “perfect” world.

This is coming up today for me, because on Sunday, September 7th I will be teaching the first class in the Asian Classics Institute Course 1 – The Principal Teachings of Buddhism.  It is with great joy I share with others how to change their world and create eternal bliss.  I am looking forward to being with people that also want to end suffering.

Dream Interpretation Made Simple

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Sue decides to leave the party and as she turns to go she sees an admired professor from college on the other side of the room. Sue has always delighted in talking to this person, but tonight she is tired and a little down so she just turns to leave. Outside in the parking lot, the professor has caught up with her and they start to talk. The conversation turns to her singing ability. The professor suggests that she sing professionally. Sue argues that her voice isn’t very good. Her argument prompts the professor to start searching for a recorder so that she can hear how well she sings. The scene fades and Sue finds herself awake.

Now, that was a strange dream. What does it mean? Does it mean anything? Sue has always enjoyed singing along to the radio in the car, but did she miss her true calling in life to be a singer? Should she call up that old professor to find out if he knows about singing opportunities?

Although some people may have dreams that predict future events, most dreams reflect emotions left over from the day’s events or unconscious feelings arising from unresolved conflict either from the previous day or from the far past. Dreams give a snapshot of what is “up” for us at any one time. You can choose to simply chuckle about your “weird” dreams or you can take a closer look. Dream interpretation is personal. The same scenario dreamt by two different people may mean very different things.

Simple Guide to Dream Interpretation

1) Remember as much of the dream as possible. The best way to do this is to write the dream out as soon as you awake. As you write you will remember more of the details. Dream interpretation is like solving a puzzle. The more clues you have the better.

2) Become aware of the overall feeling the dream has left you with. Did it scare you or leave you feeling happy or hopeful? It may be helpful to consider what situation in your life the dream may be about. Dreams are a symbolic reflection of what is happening in our day to day life, even if the dream events appear completely unrelated.

3) Now go through the dream piece by piece, starting with the characters. The first idea to get rid of is the notion that people in the dream represent people in real life. The professor in Sue’s dream is not the actual professor from Sue’s past. He is simply a character in Sue’s dream. The dream isn’t about that professor and his desire that Sue be a singer. The dream is all about Sue. With each character in your dream ask yourself what they represent to you. For instance, the professor could represent authority figures to one person, could be a gentle teacher to another, or could be more abstract idea, such as “everything I always wanted to be”.

4) Once you have an idea what the characters represent, you can do the same with other situations or objects in the dream. Perhaps you dreamt you couldn’t find your car – ask yourself what your car represents. The car may be a symbol for their physical body to one person or may represent a way of getting through life to another. If you can’t figure out what a thing means to you, just skip it. Other parts of the dream may give you clues to figure it out later, or perhaps it wasn’t an important part of the dream.

5) Start putting the pieces of information together to tell a story. An important way to determine what the plot of the story means is to reflect on what has been going on in your everyday life. Remember, dreams are personal. Let’s use Sue’s dream as an example of how to do this.

Sue has been feeling dissatisfied with her life lately. The activities that she used to like to do no longer interest her. She decides to interpret this dream in order to get a deeper understanding about what is going on within herself. The dream left her with the overall feeling of being hesitant or conflicted. She decides the party is her old life and activities. They used to be fun (hence a party) but now she is feeling tired and disinterested (hence she leaves). The professor is someone that in the past she would have never missed an opportunity to talk to. In the dream she doesn’t even want to talk to him. Yet, he shows up outside to talk to her. This suggest although she is leaving the past behind, she will be bringing parts of it with her in a different form. The professor represents a fresh perspective on who she is. She is still the same Sue, but he sees her differently than she sees herself. Sue likes singing, but knows that she has no desire to be a singer. She guesses that the singing represents another area of self expression. In her case it’s cooking. She’s always enjoyed cooking, but it was never an important part of her life. She realizes that she’d like to deepen her cooking knowledge and activities, but is worried that although she has some interest she doesn’t have any real talent. More conscious of her conflicted feelings, Sue considers signing up for a class on a new type of cooking and volunteering at the local soup kitchen as a cook.

Take some time to analyze the next dream you have. Dream interpretation can be a lot of fun. Dreams are an expression of emotions and feelings and reflect what’s alive in your life at the moment. When you analyze your dreams you achieve a greater connection with your fears and hopes. Being able to “know thyself” is the first step to having a more fulfilling life as it enables you to make better choices that satisfy and nourish you.

Pleasant Dreams!