Podcasts about desire why addiction

“If we are to understand anything so complex and troubling as addiction, we need to gaze directly at the point where experience and biology meet. Because that’s the bottleneck, the linchpin, where human affairs are cast and crystallized. That’s where the brain shapes our lives and our lives shape the brain” Marc D. Lewis, Ph.D. I had the honor and pleasure of interviewing Marc. D. Lewis on TSC Talks to discuss his life and work with the focus of the conversation on how he developed his understanding of addiction, and how he debunked the more traditional theory that addiction is indeed a disease. Marc is a neuroscientist, recently retired full professor of developmental psychology, at the University of Toronto from 1989 to 2010, and at Radboud University in the Netherlands from 2010 to 2016. He is the author or co-author of over 50 journal publications in psychology, cognitive science, and neuroscience, editor of an academic book on developmental psychology, and co-author of a book for parents. More recently he has written two books on the science and experience of addiction. I heard Marc on a podcast several years ago after reading his blog, https://memoirsofanaddictedbrain.com. I was a few years into recovery from substance abuse addiction and struggling with many of the traditional modes of treatment. As a parent of children with some extra challenges case managing their TSC related care post-divorce, I was buoyed when I heard Marc discussing his 2nd book, The Biology of Desire, Why Addiction is Not a Disease (2015)which claims “the scientific facts don’t support the disease model of addiction. Rather, addiction, like romantic love and other emotionally loaded habits, develops through deep learning and limited alternatives. Combining scientific views with intimate biographies of addicts who recovered, the book also shows how addiction can be overcome, through self-directed change in one’s goals and perspectives.” Having felt more validated in my own personal experience knowing that there were multiple factors personally at play that led to my own demise, I went and started reading more of his blog and research. Viewing myself as victim of a disease while at the same time having to maintain a somewhat subservient stance to wrangle the services necessary to help our family recover from years of ongoing traumas, was almost too much to bear. I simply could not accept the idea that I had a disease and as I chose to navigate away from that model of understanding, including delving into cannabinoid medicine, I was finally able to intimately integrate past present and future in a way that I could truly climb out of many self-limiting beliefs reinforced by this notion. Clinging to the disease model of addiction was limiting and I have to say, Marc’s work has made a tangible impact on my own and so many others who have had less than typical experiences for which the confines of traditional recovery methods led to deeper despair and frustration. I’m including a bit more information from Marc’s bio along with some quotes that highlight might be helpful and lead you to download and/or at least listen to this fabulous chat. Beginning during his undergraduate years in Berkeley, California, Marc experimented with a large variety of drugs, eventually becoming addicted to opiates. He moved to Toronto in 1976 and began to study psychology at the University of Toronto, but at the same time encountered serious personal and legal troubles resulting from his addiction. After quitting drugs at age 30, he continued his graduate education in developmental psychology. He received a Ph.D. and license to practice psychology in 1989, and he was appointed to the position of assistant professor the same year. Around 2006, Marc’s research led him back to addiction, this time as a neuroscientist studying the brain changes that accompany addiction and recovery. His 2011 book, Memoirs of an Addicted Brain, blends his life story with a user-friendly account of how drugs (from LSD and alcohol to speed and heroin) affect the brain and how alterations in brain function help explain addiction. His more recent book is The Biology of Desire: Why Addiction is Not a Disease (2015), and it has stirred controversy among people with addictions, their families, addiction researchers, and treatment providers.” “The fact is that we in the West embrace the logic of pigeonholing problems, giving them unique names and finding technical solutions-the more targeted the better-for alleviating them. That is, to a T, the logic of Western medicine.” We also discussed the impact of social distancing and quarantine measures on those that might be struggling with addiction during this global pandemic. Please note Marc’s links to social media as well as multiple articles, videos that might be helpful and illuminating for anyone currently struggling. “What often goes together with addiction is a kind of narrowing of the social world, you get your needs for soothing and satisfaction or pleasure from a substance. You do not need to connect as much. So, the social world kind of shrinks around you. And before long, you kind of lose the opportunity, you lose the availability of other people, you lose friends, you lose family, you kind of, you know, you kind of bury yourself in a little hole in the ground, where you have your substance and you have maybe a couple of other people around you that also are involved in substances That's it. The Coronavirus also is pushing us to burrow into a shrinking environment. We are sitting there at home by ourselves. And people are just losing even more the opportunity to connect outside of themselves, to extend their, their social web and to extend their possible the availability of getting your needs met by other people and other activities. So that in itself, I think is just the built-in hardship of this lockdown phase that we're in.” If you or a loved one or anyone in your circles is feeling at risk and struggling with mental health issues, please don’t hesitate to call National Suicide Prevention Lifeline https://suicidepreventionlifeline.org/ 1-800-273-8255. Marc’s links are as follows: Website: https://memoirsofanaddictedbrain.com YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCQvHfB1Kg4zStk5YwMYWH9Q Wikipedia: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Marc_David_Lewis ResearchGate: https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Marc_Lewis3 The Guardian: https://www.theguardian.com/culture/2015/aug/30/marc-lewis-the-neuroscientist-who-believes-addiction-is-not-a-disease Videos that are awesome! https://youtu.be/aOSD9rTVuWc Addiction and Trust: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e3p_LuTM73k With Dalai Lama: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WZgx-6GOBAs Order His Books!: https://www.memoirsofanaddictedbrain.com/buy-biology-of-desire/ https://www.memoirsofanaddictedbrain.com/buy-it/

“If we are to understand anything so complex and troubling as addiction, we need to gaze directly at the point where experience and biology meet. Because that’s the bottleneck, the linchpin, where human affairs are cast and crystallized. That’s where the brain shapes our lives and our lives shape the brain” Marc D. Lewis, Ph.D.I had the honor and pleasure of interviewing Marc. D. Lewis on TSC Talks to discuss his life and work with the focus of the conversation on how he developed his understanding of addiction, and how he debunked the more traditional theory that addiction is indeed a disease. Marc is a neuroscientist, recently retired full professor of developmental psychology, at the University of Toronto from 1989 to 2010, and at Radboud University in the Netherlands from 2010 to 2016. He is the author or co-author of over 50 journal publications in psychology, cognitive science, and neuroscience, editor of an academic book on developmental psychology, and co-author of a book for parents. More recently he has written two books on the science and experience of addiction.I heard Marc on a podcast several years ago after reading his blog, https://memoirsofanaddictedbrain.com. I was a few years into recovery from substance abuse addiction and struggling with many of the traditional modes of treatment. As a parent of children with some extra challenges case managing their TSC related care post-divorce, I was buoyed when I heard Marc discussing his 2nd book, The Biology of Desire, Why Addiction is Not a Disease (2015)which claims “the scientific facts don’t support the disease model of addiction. Rather, addiction, like romantic love and other emotionally loaded habits, develops through deep learning and limited alternatives. Combining scientific views with intimate biographies of addicts who recovered, the book also shows how addiction can be overcome, through self-directed change in one’s goals and perspectives.” Having felt more validated in my own personal experience knowing that there were multiple factors personally at play that led to my own demise, I went and started reading more of his blog and research. Viewing myself as victim of a disease while at the same time having to maintain a somewhat subservient stance to wrangle the services necessary to help our family recover from years of ongoing traumas, was almost too much to bear. I simply could not accept the idea that I had a disease and as I chose to navigate away from that model of understanding, including delving into cannabinoid medicine, I was finally able to intimately integrate past present and future in a way that I could truly climb out of many self-limiting beliefs reinforced by this notion. Clinging to the disease model of addiction was limiting and I have to say, Marc’s work has made a tangible impact on my own and so many others who have had less than typical experiences for which the confines of traditional recovery methods led to deeper despair and frustration. I’m including a bit more information from Marc’s bio along with some quotes that highlight might be helpful and lead you to download and/or at least listen to this fabulous chat. Beginning during his undergraduate years in Berkeley, California, Marc experimented with a large variety of drugs, eventually becoming addicted to opiates. He moved to Toronto in 1976 and began to study psychology at the University of Toronto, but at the same time encountered serious personal and legal troubles resulting from his addiction. After quitting drugs at age 30, he continued his graduate education in developmental psychology. He received a Ph.D. and license to practice psychology in 1989, and he was appointed to the position of assistant professor the same year.Around 2006, Marc’s research led him back to addiction, this time as a neuroscientist studying the brain changes that accompany addiction and recovery. His 2011 book, Memoirs of an Addicted Brain, blends his life story with a user-friendly account of how drugs (from LSD and alcohol to speed and heroin) affect the brain and how alterations in brain function help explain addiction.His more recent book is The Biology of Desire: Why Addiction is Not a Disease (2015), and it has stirred controversy among people with addictions, their families, addiction researchers, and treatment providers.” “The fact is that we in the West embrace the logic of pigeonholing problems, giving them unique names and finding technical solutions-the more targeted the better-for alleviating them. That is, to a T, the logic of Western medicine.” We also discussed the impact of social distancing and quarantine measures on those that might be struggling with addiction during this global pandemic. Please note Marc’s links to social media as well as multiple articles, videos that might be helpful and illuminating for anyone currently struggling.“What often goes together with addiction is a kind of narrowing of the social world, you get your needs for soothing and satisfaction or pleasure from a substance. You do not need to connect as much. So, the social world kind of shrinks around you. And before long, you kind of lose the opportunity, you lose the availability of other people, you lose friends, you lose family, you kind of, you know, you kind of bury yourself in a little hole in the ground, where you have your substance and you have maybe a couple of other people around you that also are involved in substances That's it. The Coronavirus also is pushing us to burrow into a shrinking environment. We are sitting there at home by ourselves. And people are just losing even more the opportunity to connect outside of themselves, to extend their, their social web and to extend their possible the availability of getting your needs met by other people and other activities. So that in itself, I think is just the built-in hardship of this lockdown phase that we're in.”If you or a loved one or anyone in your circles is feeling at risk and struggling with mental health issues, please don’t hesitate to call National Suicide Prevention Lifeline https://suicidepreventionlifeline.org/ 1-800-273-8255.Marc’s links are as follows:Website: https://memoirsofanaddictedbrain.com YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCQvHfB1Kg4zStk5YwMYWH9Q Wikipedia: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Marc_David_Lewis ResearchGate: https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Marc_Lewis3 The Guardian: https://www.theguardian.com/culture/2015/aug/30/marc-lewis-the-neuroscientist-who-believes-addiction-is-not-a-diseaseVideos that are awesome! https://youtu.be/aOSD9rTVuWc Addiction and Trust: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e3p_LuTM73k With Dalai Lama: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WZgx-6GOBAs Order His Books!: https://www.memoirsofanaddictedbrain.com/buy-biology-of-desire/ https://www.memoirsofanaddictedbrain.com/buy-it/

Shelley and Jackie discuss the disease model of addiction and why it doesn’t work, according to “The Biology of Desire.” They also share their New Year’s goals in light of the book’s explanations of finding long-term motivation without addictive patterns.

The 3 basic camps of addiction can be broken into the following categories: The prevailing wisdom today is that addiction is a disease. This is the main line of the medical model of mental disorders with which the National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA) is aligned: addiction is a chronic and relapsing brain disease in which alcohol use becomes involuntary despite its negative consequences. The idea here is, roughly, that addiction is a disease because alcohol use changes the brain and, as a result of these changes, alcohol use becomes compulsive, beyond the voluntary control of the user. In other words, drinker has no choice and his behavior is resistant to long term change. Marc Lewis’ “The Biology of Desire: Why Addiction is Not a Disease”, has stirred controversy among addicts, their families, addiction researchers, and treatment providers. Lewis claims that the scientific facts don’t support the disease model of addiction. Rather, addiction, like romantic love and other emotionally loaded habits, develops through accelerated learning. Combining scientific views with intimate biographies of addicts who recovered, the book also shows how addiction can be overcome, through self-directed change in one’s goals and perspectives. Drawing on psychiatric epidemiology, addicts’ autobiographies, treatment studies, and advances in behavioral economics, Heyman makes a powerful case that addiction is voluntary. He shows that drug use, like all choices, is influenced by preferences and goals. But just as there are successful dieters, there are successful ex-addicts. In fact, addiction is the psychiatric disorder with the highest rate of recovery. But what ends an addiction? At the heart of Heyman’s analysis is a startling view of choice and motivation that applies to all choices, not just the choice to use drugs. The conditions that promote quitting a drug addiction include new information, cultural values, and, of course, the costs and benefits of further drug use. Most of us avoid becoming drug dependent, not because we are especially rational, but because we loathe the idea of being an addict. Greg, with 361 days since his last drink, shares his story   SHOW NOTES   [13:45] Paul Introduces Greg.  I’m 54 years old, I live In Las Vegas, I’m an attorney, and working in HR currently.  I have been married for 26 years, and have 2 daughters aged 22 and 18.  I love being outdoors.   [18:59] Paul- Can you describe your rock bottom moment?   Greg- The summer of 2016 I played on a work Softball League.  We won the championship.  I had a party at my house to celebrate.  I drank way too much, I blacked out, we ended up doing shots of tequila.  It was a bad scene.  The next morning it was the lowest I had felt in my life.  It was ruining my relationships.      [26:43] Paul- When you came out, how liberating was that feeling?   Greg- It was awesome.  I felt like I had taken a huge first step.  I admitted to myself I had a problem.  It was liberating.  I have expanded my accountability network.   [37:01] Paul- You look at it like an opportunity and not a sacrifice.  Comment more on that.   Greg- It is really a celebration.  There were times in the past when I tried to give up drinking.  With that mentality it didn’t work.  I have gained peace and happiness, and joy and serenity.  I really look at recovery as something that I have been given.  I am going to make the most of it every single day.      [41:18] Rapid Fire Round What was your worst memory from drinking? It was definitely waking up the morning after the softball party.  That was the low point from there, I started heading back up. Did you ever have an “oh-shit” moment? There was a time a few years ago when one of my kids had an event during one of my drinking nights.  I thought it is kind of twisted thinking for getting upset I was going to have to spend time with my family because it would interfere with my drinking.  What’s your plan moving forward? Doing this podcast has been great.  One day at a time.  I’m going to continue to go to Celebrate Recovery.   What’s the best advice you’ve ever received (on sobriety)? Focus on the similarities, not the differences.   What parting piece of guidance can you give listeners who are in recovery or thinking about quitting drinking? If you think you might have a problem, reach out to one other person you trust. You might be an alcoholic if...you are nick named after a drink.   Resources mentioned in this episode: "Beyond the Influence" - Katherine Ketcham Gene Heyman "Addiction: A Disorder of Choice" Marc Lewis "Biology Of Desire" Article: "Is Addiction a Disease?" Connect with Cafe RE- Use the promo code Opportunity to waive the set up fee. Sobriety Tracker iTunes Sobriety Tracker Android Sober Selfies! - Send your Sober Selfie and your Success Story to info@recoveryelevator.com     “We took the elevator down, we gotta take the stairs back up, we can do this!”  

Our guest today is Dr Marc Lewis, a developmental neuroscientist and currently a professor at the Radboud University in Nijmegen in the Netherlands. For many years his work centred on dynamic systems approaches to understanding the development of emotions and personality but recently he has perhaps become most well known for his account of his own personal experience of drug addiction Memoirs of Addicted Brain and merging that with the neuroscience of addiction. In his latest book The Biology of Desire: Why Addiction is not a Disease he argues that seeing addiction as a disease is not only incorrect but also harmful and this will be the topic of our discussion today

Marc Lewis, a professor at Radboud University in Nijmegen, the Netherlands, is a cognitive neuroscientist known for his research on the development of emotions and personality in childhood and adolescence. His current work, based on an integrative review of the neuroscience of addiction, shows that addiction is not a pathological state but rather an unfortunate result of a brain doing what it's supposed to do -- in fact overdoing it: pursuing pleasure and avoiding risk. Accordingly, he argues that to understand addiction we need to stop thinking of it as a disease. Lewis's 2012 book, Memoirs of an Addicted Brain, is an account of his addiction to drugs as a young man, with accompanying explanations of the neurobiological processes underlying various drug experiences as well as the process of addiction itself. His new book is called The Biology of Desire: Why Addiction is Not a Disease. 

Martin Ford is the founder of a Silicon Valley-based software development firm and the author of two books:  The New York Times bestselling Rise of the Robots: Technology and the Threat of a Jobless Future and The Lights in the Tunnel: Automation, Accelerating Technology and the Economy of the Future. He has more than 25 years’ experience in the fields of computer design and software development. Marc Lewis, a professor at Radboud University in Nijmegen, the Netherlands, is a cognitive neuroscientist known for his research on the development of emotions and personality in childhood and adolescence. His current work, based on an integrative review of the neuroscience of addiction, shows that addiction is not a pathological state but rather an unfortunate result of a brain doing what it's supposed to do -- in fact overdoing it: pursuing pleasure and avoiding risk. Accordingly, he argues that to understand addiction we need to stop thinking of it as a disease. Lewis's 2012 book, Memoirs of an Addicted Brain, is an account of his addiction to drugs as a young man, with accompanying explanations of the neurobiological processes underlying various drug experiences as well as the process of addiction itself. His new book is called The Biology of Desire: Why Addiction is Not a Disease. 

Our guest this Morning is Marc Lewis, Ph. D., author of The Biology of Desire: Why Addiction Is Not a Disease. This amazing book is chock full of the latest neuroscience, telling not only how brains get addicted to drugs but also how they recover and heal, showing that neuroplasticity is a two-edged sword. A great antidote to the drug war propaganda put forth by NIDA.