Word: addictions
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There's something ugly and fascinating about reading such intimate tales of debasement and depression and failure and self-doubt. Every addict in Denizet-Lewis' book speaks intelligently about his or her disease (this is to be expected; otherwise, there wouldn't be much of a book). They also all show a desire to do the years-long work in therapy and treatment and 12-stepping required - which is what makes their stories both heroic and at the same time kind of insufferable. The repetitive, self-obsessed language and terminology employed by any recovering addict is multiplied eightfold. While each...
...Pacino in Scarface on your MySpace profile? Yes? You're violent. What about completing a sex survey and displaying the results? Or using a Playboy bunny icon to represent you? Well then, you're probably promiscuous. Is your profile picture one of you drinking or smoking? You're an addict. Evidently, this is how the study's authors determined which profiles displayed "risky behavior" and which didn't. Obviously, there are many problems with such an approach...
Indeed, because of the way the brain is wired, each time an addict lets an urge pass without engaging in the unwanted behavior, it weakens the neural connections that underlie the desire; each time he or she rewards the craving with the bad habit, the brain pathways, and the addiction, are strengthened. It helps for people to remind themselves that if they can resist an addictive urge once, it will become easier and easier to do it again in the future...
...take risks get an unusually big hit of dopamine each time they have a novel experience, because their brains are not able to inhibit the neurotransmitter adequately. That blast makes them feel good, so they keep returning for the rush from similarly risky or new behaviors, just like the addict seeking the next high...
...heroin program, funded in large part by the $22 million per year spent on health insurance in Switzerland , is offered in twenty-three centers across the nation, where nearly 1,300 addicts receive carefully measured doses of heroin daily. Of course, not just any addict can go to a center and obtain heroin. Only hard-core junkies—that is, addicts who have been using for years and have previously tried and failed to quit—are allowed to participate in the program. All qualms about making this narcotic available to the masses are invalid as the addicts...