Addiction Medicine

I had a great continuing education medical meeting this week. Once a month, doctors present 2 hours of medical issues that effect our missionaries throughout the world. One of the topics was on "Addiction Medicine". These addictions can include substance abuse, social media, gambling, video gaming, movies, pornography, arguments, high fructose containing food, extreme activities and multi-tasking. Hmmm...I recognize myself in some of these activities. The doctor shared several studies that show a dramatic increase in these addictions since COVID. When a person participates in these activities dopamine is released in our brains helping us to feel better. Some of these are not necessarily bad but can lead to addiction. As stress increases, our dopamine stores are reduced. Our brain starts telling us, "Hey, I'm out of dopamine over here." We begin have a physical desire to return to these dopamine producing activities.
Treatment for these addictions does not include just telling yourself to stop or replacing the addiction with a more desirable addiction (Like eating sugar for example ;-). The doctor talked about the "White Bear Theory". If you tell yourself, don't think about the white bear. Most of us begin thinking about the white bear even more. It is true that stopping an undesirable behavior for 6 months changes behavior but you can't do it by telling yourself just to stop. Nor do you need lots of therapy or medication. These are the recommendations that were presented in my continuing education class. He called it "Compassion Therapy". 1. Acknowledge the urge when it occurs. You are not bad just because you have the thought. 2. Analyze why you are having these thoughts. Maybe your brain is calling for more dopamine. What stress occurred before this urge that may be triggering the thought? 3. Allow for self-compassion. Don't beat yourself up. 4. Resolve the underlying problem that triggered the desire. Maybe you had a fight with your spouse. Maybe you are bored. Maybe your workload at work is too much. Figure it out. "Therefore, cheer up your hearts, and remember that ye are free to act for yourselves-to choose..." 2 Nephi 10:23

Comments

  1. KrystalApril 11, 2022 at 7:58 AM

    Thanks for sharing what you learned! I'm sure everyone can use this great advice! 💕

    ReplyDelete

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