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The Pleasure Loop: Key to Understanding Addiction

By Shlomo Maital

     There are few tragedies in life greater than seeing loved ones suffer from addiction. Consider for instance the terrible addiction of Rob and Michelle Reiner’s son – and the horrible consequence.  Yet we seem to be unable to crack the problem or solve it.

      A recent edition of the Hidden Brain, headed by Shankar Vedante, offers a persuasive explanation. It is the dopaminc pleasure loop.

        “Dopamine is a crucial chemical messenger (neurotransmitter) in the brain and body, acting as both a neurotransmitter and hormone that regulates pleasure, motivation, movement, mood, learning, and focus. It’s often called the “happy hormone””.  It is a crucial hormone. 

         Some 50,000 years ago, when humans struggled to find enough food to stay live. Dopamine rewarded each such find.  Today, when food is largely ample, or excessive, dopamine continues to reward us excessively.  Result: obesity.

         But the same is true with addiction.  A narcotic triggers dopamine. But we become habituated.  Less and less dopamine. The feedback loop seeks more and more drug, to generate the same dopamine high…and consumption rises, until, often, overdose or death or psychosis.    

         It is an example of how evolution generally improves survivability and viability – but in this case, a rare but terrible one, it leads to annihilation at times.  Add to that the enormous drug profits the cartels earn and generate. 

         The pleasure-loop feedback is immensely hard to change.  Once it gets rolling.  I think we are all somewhat addicted to something…  complete this sentence, “I find it hard to wean myself from my favorite….???”.  

         There is no easy solution.  Dopamine is an insidious, terrible foe, when it becomes an enemy.  I loved running – in part because my brain always rewarded it with a jolt of dopamine.  Runners know what I mean. 

          Can we replace bad dopamine pleasure loops with positive ones?   Facile, shallow, too easy..   but, we absolutely have to crack this terrible pleasure loop.  Understanding it more deeply can help.