The sad reality is that the drug treatment, and rehab is an industry in itself, which by design perpetuates the cycle of repeated treatments, followed by relapses, and then more treatment.
Recently I watched a documentary on the situation in British Columbia. The government does not provide that many treatment beds, mostly because the problem is so huge, the cost would be excessive, and partly because no one wants to take responsibility for the problem.
The government does provide some beds, but apparently a third of them do not provide any treatment options. The low barrier housing options allows the addicts to continue using drugs, with the provision of shelter, and other supports.
Many arguments for involuntary treatment are bandied back and forth. There are those who are adamantly against forcing treatment, and those who are just as unyielding on the issue of mandatory treatment.
Given the fact the number of government subsidized beds is so sparse, considering the scope of the problem, it has given rise to a range of private treatment centres, counsellors, and options for those seeking treatment, if they have sufficient financial backing. The payment for treatment usually comes from the family members of the addict.
However what many people may not know, is that the treatment centres are not regulated in BC. How many times do you read about former addicts going from addiction, to immediately becoming counsellors? They believe their experience qualifies them.
Clearly there can be benefits to peer counselling, and support groups. But we must keep in mind that former addicts have many years ahead of them to resolve their addiction, and reduce the chance of relapse. Unless they have many years of sobriety, they should probably stay away from other addicts, even though they might have intentions to help them.
Regarding some of the treatment centres, you hear of neighbours reporting that they thought the treatment centre was a crack house. All kinds of people are allowed to come and go without any kind of monitoring. The advertising for many of these places makes them sound like a five star resort. But when people get into the program, they find out it is a different story.
The cost of some of the programs is staggering, often tens of thousands of dollars. The background and credentials of the owner/operator is often fabricated. Some of the treatments are taken to the extreme, from sweat lodges, to Kundalini yoga, restrictive diets, excessive exercise, unsupervised fasting, etc.
When a family seeks out a treatment facility, they are often at their wits end, and in fear for the life of their loved one. They are in a vulnerable position when it comes to paying upwards of $60,000.00 for a ninety day program. Because the facilities are unlicensed, and unregulated, they have to take the advertising, and claims at face value.
This is where for profit drug treatment can fail people. There is no real incentive to see people get well for the long term. In fact the cycle of addiction often includes multiple relapses. These relapses are framed as “part of the journey” and are to be expected.
The success rate is going to be much higher if the addict is motivated to get well. Involuntary treatment does work for some people. If you listen to jailhouse interviews, or to those who spent time in jail as a result of an addiction, they will often say that being incarcerated is what got them on the road to recovery, because they had no other choice. It also gave time to reflect on what got them there, and what they needed to do to change direction.
In my opinion, individual care plans might help. The benefits of creating tailored care plans based on the addicts current situation, goals, general health, childhood trauma, and drugs of choice, could help to keep them on track.
A huge part of the problem is poly-pharmaceuticals, combining prescription drugs with street drugs. Also the inclusion of so many benzodiazepines in the mix is a recipe for disaster. Benzodiazepines, antipsychotics, and antidepressants can be more lethal than opiates.
When people become long term addicted to benzodiazepines, getting off them is a nightmare. With opiates there is a period of withdrawal, and sickness for several days. But once stabilized, they can move forward.
Benzodiazepines require a very careful, long term tapering of the drug to be able to manage the withdrawal. In one case, a man was able to help his wife by micro-dosing, with minute incremental reductions. She was doing quite well, but then her psychiatrist advised a more rapid reduction. She had extreme withdrawal, and quickly relapsed.
Antipsychotics interfere with dopamine, serotonin, histamine, and epinephrine. Benzodiazepines also interfere with dopamine, and various other neurotransmitters. If these drugs are combined with opiates, the person’s dopamine levels become an absolute mess, requiring long term treatment.
Three month treatment plans might get a highly motivated person past a crisis, but what needs to be addressed is that it takes years, not months to fully recover.
Primarily there has to be a change in neurochemistry, as well as gut health. This is in addition to supports for emotional, psychological and spiritual recovery.
Another long term effect of drug use, is EPS symptoms, or extrapyramidal side effects. These symptoms can vary widely in severity, from stiffness, to Parkinson like tremors, involuntary movements, restlessness and agitation etc. Antipsychotic drugs are the worst culprits, but many other drugs can cause these distressing symptoms as well.
In so many cases, people move away from street drugs, only to become dependant on potent prescription drugs that cause just as much harm. Short term gain for long term debilitation. The exchange is not recovery. It is misery, and an ongoing cycle.
The reason a well structured care plan might help, is to avoid some of the pitfalls, as well as being shunted from one psychiatrist’s opinions, and drug choices, to another. Anyone who goes to a psychiatrist can be certain they will be prescribed drugs. This is not going help balance the system to a state of wellness.
After the initial detox, the addict needs to set out long term goals, short term goals, and daily goals. The objective is to restore natural dopamine through diet, exercise, and goal setting. It also means changing old habits, and patterns, and staying away from areas where drugs are being used. It requires learning to set boundaries, as well as to avoid being manipulated, and/or manipulating others.
Manipulation is based on the need for control, and is a deceptive tactic. But underlying the need to control others, is an unstable locus of self-control. Self-control allows us to stick to a plan, and detach from the people or things that are prone to derailing us. We cannot thrive if we are people pleasers. If we are being manipulated, it does not come from a place of love or support.
Part of self care, is to learn to be your own butler, or caregiver. It may sound selfish, but it is important to learn how to take care of your own needs. After that, you are much better equipped to help with, serve, or take care of others. Without the ability to self care, we are at the mercy of anyone who tries to influence or control us. We lack boundaries, and end up responding in a knee-jerk fashion. This kind of response often leads to resentment.
By being your own butler, it means you are thinking ahead. You are planning meals, exercise, finances, making to do lists every day, and staying organized and focused. That way you are not an easy target for those who want to sway you, or exploit you, or simply get you to join them.
Breaking out of a cycle of victimization is not easy. We have to learn to take responsibility for the many mistakes we make. We also have to forgive the things others have done to us, while setting boundaries to prevent it from recurring.
We have to change. Change only comes about by changing daily habits, by exchanging resentment for gratitude, by changing our plans, and by finding ways to restore dopamine.
Dopamine is responsible for reward and pleasure, and therefore is a major contributor to mood. It is also responsible for cognition, memory, attention and focus, which is why it is so important to start creating a written plan, along with daily to do lists.
Dopamine also plays a crucial role in multiple other bodily functions related to sleep, blood vessels, heart rate, movement, posture, and kidney function. If a hospitalized person is on a dopamine drip, they are probably in ICU.
The ways in which drugs interfere with dopamine receptors in the brain, is vast and complex. Once a person is addicted to any substance, they face a long road to recovery.
But the good news is that unlike spinal cord injuries, or brain injuries, the recovery from addiction is possible. The younger, and healthier a person is, the more quickly their system can heal and recover.
The problem for many people, is that they expect to feel better within a matter of weeks. Or they switch from one dependancy to another, by going from street drugs to prescription psychotropics.
Switching addictions puts people on the path to relapse, one way or another. There has to be a plan to prepare for the bad days, to avoid the impulse to use again. No one is in a good mood all of the time. Learning healthy ways to cope with bad moods, is an integral part of self regulation.
Setbacks are not just a part of the addicts life, but rather, they are part of life. It can be anything from a broken down car, to finding out a spouse is having an affair. Losses can occur from extreme weather conditions, losing a loved one, to losing a job, or getting a knee injury, just when you make a coveted team.
Life has many obstacles, struggles and difficulties for all of us. For those with stable childhoods, they could still be affected by accidents, illnesses, sibling relationships, parental conflicts etc. A child’s disposition can affect the way they view the world. We simply don’t know to what extent a person is impacted by the events of their childhood.
Certain things like sleep training, perfectionism, high expectations, inflexibility, too much, or too little attention – can all have an adverse effect on how a child views the world. These things can have an impact on whether or not they develop security, confidence and trust.
If a parent favours one child over another, it can have an adverse effect on both the favoured, and the rejected child. It takes us a long time to be resilient as far as the opinions, or judgements toward us.
If children are constantly hovered over, without the freedom to play, or have some unstructured time to reach developmental milestones at their own pace, they might become anxious, depressed, or rebellious. They might find it difficult to take initiative.
Some kids are naturally coordinated. Others are clumsy. Some are academically inclined. Others are not, and may excel at sports instead. For the most part, children do not want to be shaped according to their parents values or expectations. They struggle for autonomy. Even the “perfect child” who seems to excel at everything, will not necessarily feel secure or confident.
In every family, among the siblings, most of us have observed that each child is a unique individual. Even though they grew up together, they may be very different from one another.
For those who came from a traumatic, chaotic, violent, and/or addictive childhood background, they have lifelong hurdles to overcome. The brain, the adrenal system, the dopamine, fear, anxiety, and coping mechanisms all become hardwired into the system. It affects self esteem, trust, security, learning, the way the future is viewed, and basically everything. It robs the child of a childhood, as they are faced with adult responsibilities, caregiving, and the struggle for survival at an early age.
The suggestion of learning to be your own butler, or caregiver, seems glib, but yet it does make sense. The guy who suggested this idea, is a successful executive who travels a fair bit. He said he likes to have his Keurig coffee set up the night before. He gets his clothes out, and plans what to wear. He goes to bed at night thinking about what he needs to do, to make his life easier, puts things in place, and wakes up planning his day for smooth sailing.
Yes, flexibility is a key character trait in well adjusted individuals, so we have to take all planning as an outline that might need to be changed or adjusted. If we become too rigid, we risk becoming insecure, like a toddler who needs a pacifier, blanket, stuffed animal, and story in order to be able to go to sleep.
For Christians, there are bible verses instructing us to give up self. Paradoxically the notion of self care might not align with abandoning self to follow Christ. However, Christ is within us, therefore we are to take care of ourselves physically, emotionally, and most of all, spiritually.
If we abandon self care, we will allow the forces of the world to take over our lives. Self care does not mean total selfishness. It is like when you sit on an airplane and the flight attendant goes through the safety instructions. They tell you to put the oxygen mask on yourself first, then assist the person beside you. The reason for this is because you cannot help anyone, if you cannot breathe.
People are often praised for being selfless. In order to serve others without being a manipulated people pleaser, we have to take care of ourselves. We have to be sober, vigilant, discerning, and capable of setting boundaries. We have to know our own limits, and seek God’s will for our life, as opposed to being men pleasers.
For those coming out of drug addiction, they also need to take care of the former child within, to help restructure life, and bring in some of the things they did not receive to help stabilize them as children. Childhood trauma is a root cause of addictive behaviours.
If we are honest with ourselves, we can recognize the manifestations of some form of addictive behaviours in our own lives. Addiction has many long and winding tentacles. It is not limited to drugs, alcohol, food and gambling. It is any behaviour that we repeat for short term escape, or gratification – in spite of the fact it is robbing us of something important.
What about guilt? Guilt robs us of the ability to forgive ourselves. Once we recognize the need to repent, we do not need to carry a burden of guilt. We are all flawed, and we all fall short of the glory of God. We are forgiven by the grace of God.
It means we can let go of past mistakes, hurt, shame, and guilt – to allow each day to be a clean slate. Our prior tribulation can end up benefitting us, if we have trust and faith in God.
Dopamine is central to the function of our brains and nervous system. But what exactly is it? In the emerging field of neuroscience, dopamine is a neurotransmitter or messenger molecule involved in nerve cell communication. Discovered in the 1950’s, we now know it plays a critical role in central nervous system function such as movement, pleasure, attention, motivation and mood.
But what about our thoughts? It is estimated that we have 60-80,000 thoughts per day. That boils down to 2500-3300 thoughts per hour. What is most noteworthy is that 80% of our thoughts are negative (that’s for all people). Is there any way of figuring out if those 80,000 thoughts in a person’s day are wrong? Delusional? Not acceptable? Not true? We can tell if a person cannot string sentences together and might draw the conclusion that they have disordered thoughts. But – many people who have had damage to the brain, such as in strokes, have clarity of thought, but have difficulty with speech or finding the right words.
In other cases, a person might believe the devil is after him, or that his thoughts are being broadcasted, or he is being threatened by aliens. Delusional thoughts are not based in reality. If there is reality in the history of a particular belief system, it is not delusional – it is a legitimate concern for the person. Truly delusional thoughts are usually accompanied by abnormal behaviours and the inability to self care. People do not need to be labeled as mentally ill for having an emotional reaction to an external pressure, if that reaction is non-violent and the reasons can be articulated. Otherwise every single person would be considered to be mentally ill.
People who believe in God, think atheists are delusional or in denial – while atheists firmly believe that those who believe in God are delusional. Some people believe the Bible is literalistic, while others argue it is mostly metaphorical. Is there a diagnostic test to determine how many delusional thoughts crop up in one persons mind? Nope. Not one. The criteria used to be that there had to be documented evidence of serious impairment, but all that has changed in the past ten or fifteen years. Now it is anyone and everyone who can be targeted for chemical restraints.
If it is obvious or can be proven that a person has lost touch with reality, such as when they exhibit bizarre behaviours, have visual and auditory hallucinations, are severely impaired, distressed, or become a risk to themselves or others – then it makes perfect sense to diagnose and treat them. But in recent years, hundreds of fairly normal or justifiable behaviours and thoughts have been turned into illnesses. Active children are drugged with Ritalin. People who are not even noticeably mentally ill are being treated with potent neuroleptics. Life has its struggles – we should be allowed to do our level best to overcome them without interference or loss of autonomy.
In real medicine, every doctor and specialist relies on a detailed history and a battery of tests before making a diagnosis. Conclusions are drawn based on evidence of cellular pathology and abnormal test results, which can be tracked and measured. Even at that, getting a second opinion might bring about an entirely different diagnosis, simply based on the interpretation of results.
In a rational and evidence based reality, and according to all medical diagnostics, diseases cannot be identified based solely on brief interviews, especially when they involve subjective value judgements, power imbalances and coercion. There are way too many blind spots along with a lack of objective data. Perhaps this is the reason for a lack of cure in the field of psychiatry. In all other aspects of medicine, the objective is to cure the disease. Another very interesting thing to note about the field of psychiatry, is that they themselves have a much higher rate of suicide and mental health disorders than the general population does.
No one can track or measure a persons thoughts in order to make a diagnosis about thoughts. It is purely subjective, and can only be deemed pathological if the person is acting on thoughts in a way that threatens public safety or contributes to a disturbance of the peace. Given that I have a medical background, I am very skeptical of any opinion or diagnosis that has no diagnostic criteria whatsoever.
For example, those who worry about accidents that never happen, about children out for the night, or get obsessive about germs, or worry they have a cheating spouse, yet he is not having affair – are actually fairly common delusions. The same goes for those who refuse to believe a cheating spouse is having an affair, or that their fifteen year old is taking heroin – are also things that reflect an altered reality, because they are in denial of the truth.
The solution to dealing with life’s problems has to be around gaining insight and wisdom. We each have a unique life journey and challenges, therefore finding out how to be open to what is happening, without fretting over things that are not happening is important, yet tricky.
How many of us are freaking afraid of spiders, garter snakes and mice? Those are irrational fears, because non-poisonous little vermin cannot hurt us. We are bigger and smarter than they are, yet some of us will go straight up and screech the house down at the sight of one.
I know because they scare me too. I have tried to convince myself not to have such an adrenalin rush over them. If there are any snakes or mice around, the only workable solution I have come up with, is to wear shoes (not barefoot or sandals) and try to make a fair bit of noise, so they don’t run or slither under my feet – or come near me. I sat down one day after a close encounter with a mouse – and I asked myself, with pounding heart and my feet up on a chair. What is it about them?
I know mice and garter snakes are harmless, and they don’t want to encounter me either, so what is the problem? I theorized that the adrenalin reaction is mostly because I am afraid of stepping on one, especially in bare feet. It is the tactile and imagined feeling of having a snake or mouse under my foot that freaks me out. Come to think of it – I did step on a coiled up garter snake once in my bare feet. I shrieked loud enough to sound an alarm like there was an axe murder underway. To some people – it is laughable and ridiculous to be afraid of a harmless small animal. Is it a feature of mental illness? Why should it be? I have never met anyone who does not have some irrational fears, anxieties or worries. Honestly, although it may sound crazy – I think it is normal.
How about those who are comfortable financially and are actually quite wealthy? In many cases, they can build up nest eggs worth millions of dollars – but to talk to some of them, you would think they are in dire straights and have to worry about every nickel. For a high percentage of people who fret about money – they fear poverty, and in many cases grew up in poverty. Therefore they have associations with the loss of status and struggles it brings, are highly motivated to avoid it, and worry endlessly about it – even when they have plenty of money. For lots of them, they have enjoyed a steady growth in assets and income over a long period of time – therefore all those worries are actually delusional.
Farmers worry about drought or hail. They get their crops off year after year, but the fear of such a huge loss over which they have no control, can overwhelm them and cause them to become brooding and negative. We all battle imaginary problems, because we know untoward things can and do happen to people.
A growing number of people fear climate change, end of times, and global disasters. They are prepping themselves, and in some cases become obsessed with it to the point of making drastic changes in their lives. Everything begins to revolve around achieving total self-sufficiency. They spend almost all of their time planning for, and worrying about something that may not happen in their lifetime. Does this make sense to the average person? Yet, they have a right to thought, belief and opinion – so they plan their lives according to their beliefs.
Some people worry and fret about their physical health, and many have imaginary illnesses. Every bump is a cancerous tumour, and every bit of indigestion or false positives in lab or mammogram results signals a dire outcome. Most things we tend to worry about hardly ever happen. However once is enough to cause reactions and triggers from then on. We are not like gazelles grazing peacefully in a meadow, who suddenly get chased by a mountain lion. If they were like us, they would not be able to graze peacefully ever again, but they do – and we too, are best to deal with it more like they do.
Every individual has billions of thoughts, which may or may not be completely logical, or even rooted in reality (such as people who are cult indoctrinated, or even writers of fiction). What about all the near death experiences? Some of the descriptions sound like LSD trips, but who can say what happens but them? Who really knows, and who really cares what the range of beliefs or experiences are? The Orwellian notion of “thought police” is far-fetched, yet seems to be a part of the maladies and modalities assigned to ordinary people, in order to define ideas, worries, thoughts and beliefs – as sickness. At one time this included gays who wanted to “come out of the closet” and slaves who wanted to be free.
What exactly is a delusional thought? It is a thought or belief that the person with power or interviewer does not believe in himself (based on a value judgement, power and dominance, lack of information, or political belief)? Anything can be a delusional thought, depending on another persons value system alone. Beliefs by themselves should not be the basis for diagnostic criteria. All too often throughout history, people have been mistreated and discriminated against for thought, belief and opinion. It robs freedom and all reasonable discourse. It is also a slippery slope.
What about measuring mood? The dopamine receptors in the brain suck up the available dopamine and have an impact on mood. Since glucose feeds the brain, fluctuating blood sugars contribute to our mood as well. Hormones are also intricately connected with dopamine and mood. Perhaps more than any other concept about mental health – is that we feed our thoughts, which in turn affects our mood.
What is a mood disorder? Mood is a result of emotions. Emotions are the primary motivators of all human behaviour. A mood disorder happens when there is destabilization or unacceptable behaviours associated with mood. These include prolonged episodes of euphoria, depression, anger, or a flat and disinterested affect.
It is important to regulate emotions in order to remain stable. The purpose of emotions is to help with (but not dominate) decision making. For example, the purpose of anger is to make a grievance known. Therefore communication is central to utilizing emotion, but it must be done in a way that is honest, respectful and forgiving. In most cases, proper communication will alleviate the negative emotion by getting clarification through feedback.
Many emotionally induced situations result from miscommunication or misunderstanding. Oftentimes we are simply grumpy for a day or two, and it is not anyone’s fault. In this case, we are best to find ways to alleviate it through exercise, music, meditation, conversation with a friend – or simply being patient, and let it go by. How often do we feel dismal one day and then fine the next day? It is a good idea to ask ourselves, “what has changed in my life to make me feel this way”? Quite often it is simply a normal fluctuation associated with neurochemistry or even the weather. Like the weather, emotions and mood vary from day to day, so acceptance of this simple fact, is part of staying stable and productive regardless of how we feel.
We can keep in mind that certain personality factors can make people more mercurial. Artists and creative individuals tend to be more emotionally expressive. Gifted individuals experience more intense emotions as a trait of being gifted. Burn out can lead to a loss of motivation or a flat affect. Chronic stress or a chaotic environment, such as when we are moving, can affect our emotions and reactions temporarily. Major life changes such as divorce, grief, birth of a child, financial losses, and many other external factors can disrupt our emotions. Humans are very adaptable, but often we need time to adjust.
Regardless of what emotion we are feeling, we can know it is temporary, and the most important thing is to maintain self control. Things like communication, crying, or time alone – do not signal a loss of control. But things like self harm, violence, binging, door slamming, yelling, etc. do signal a loss of self-control. All people must keep emotions in check enough to avoid any sort of unlawful behaviours. We also must keep in mind that things like “the silent treatment” and withholding love through constant disapproval – are not unlawful reactions, but are emotionally damaging to our loved ones.
In addition to experiences, memories, negative and positive emotions, problem solving, and responses to stress (which is mostly fear based), we store information in our brains for future retrieval, in order to help us survive. We develop those survival skills and coping mechanisms based on what we have experienced in life. We cannot eliminate memories or experiences, but we can adapt to change, and then reroute the circuits to help eliminate stressful or fear based reactions when triggered. Triggers are usually activated due to associations, or the recognition of similar patterns, even though the circumstances may be different.
There is no reliable method of measuring dopamine. Symptoms of too much dopamine include euphoria, psychosis, aggression, insomnia, and increased sex drive. Symptoms of low dopamine include decreased motivation, sleep disturbances, depression, fatigue, forgetfulness and memory loss. Dopamine regulation is linked to norepinephrine and multiple other neurotransmitters and receptors in the body, therefore any disease process associated with the central nervous system and movement can have multiple causative factors.
The fact there are no ways to measure dopamine levels should tell us that unwarranted and unnatural chemical interference with dopamine is based on potentially faulty guesswork. Doctors are expected to make decisions about dopamine based on medical history, lifestyle, and symptoms. If the medical history is overlooked, as it often is in psychiatry, that means there is a high risk of misdiagnosis and mistreatment. There are multiple medical conditions that mimic symptoms of low dopamine. These include thyroid deficiencies, type 2 diabetes, MS, poor diet, hormonal imbalances, tumours, certain types of cancer, and addictive substances.
Anything that interferes with or artificially increases dopamine will eventually burn out the dopamine stream. For this reason, it is wise to avoid any substance, medication or activity that interferes with the bodies natural dopamine streams. But what if there are conditions such as anxiety, mood disorders, lack of motivation, or other mental health labels that indicate dopamine depletion or overstimulation?
Meloncholy
Fortunately, there are natural ways to increase dopamine:
Meditation (not medication) has been proven to increase dopamine levels. Many people meditate while sitting in a sauna, through prayer and fasting, or just by setting aside a quiet time without interruption to focus on healing and well-being. I have found that sleep meditation videos will put me back to sleep if I wake up in the middle of the night. They have helped train my brain to get sufficient sleep
Write a daily to do list. Specific goals, both short term and long term help to increase motivation and decrease stress – both of which improve dopamine levels.
Increase the intake of foods that contain L-Tyrosine. These include avocados, fish, eggs, cheese, bananas and pumpkin seeds. There are many other foods with direct and indirect effects on building dopamine levels.
Exercise is probably at the top of the to do list for increasing dopamine. Not surprisingly, the best exercise to do is the one you enjoy the most. For some it is running, and for others it is cycling, swimming, or weight lifting. Since dopamine has an intrinsic link to movement – we are best to get up and get moving, which is of particular importance for those with sedentary desk jobs. The best dopamine enhancer is through interval training, which involves short bursts of energy, followed by a brief rest, and then another burst. This can be done through sprinting, water running or cycling. Another often overlooked aspect of movement is in stretching. Stretching not only helps muscle flexibility, but it also has components of meditation that can be incorporated into a daily routine. I suppose this is the reason yoga is such a popular form of exercise.
Intermittent fasting. There is a wide range of fasting methods, from prolonged to intermittent. I know for certain that fasting is an incredible healing method – because it can reset the immune system. For years I was plagued with allergies and a cascading histamine reaction, combined with colds throughout the entire winter months. Since the fast, I have not had a single cold and no longer have the histamine, allergic response. I have not been routinely doing intermittent fasting, but after this mornings research on dopamine, I plan to follow an intermittent fasting plan. Typically this is in a 16-8 hour ratio, meaning that you fast say from 8 pm until noon the following day, and then eat light and nutritious food for the remainder of the day – avoiding stimulants such as sugar and alcohol. This can be done one or two days a week with positive results. With regards to longer fasts, such as the one I did (21 days) I have learned that it takes 7-10 days to reset the immune system. The healing crisis depends on the amount of toxins in our blood stream and fat cells.
Take time off from all technology, including gaming, social media, Internet browsing – and basically any activity or addiction that artificially elevates dopamine. The reason for this is that by artificially elevating dopamine levels, we eventually burn them out.
Drink green tea.
Create something. Whatever creative expression or hobby you are attracted to, will increase dopamine – whether it is writing, drawing, painting, photography, music, gardening, or building with wood. When you hear terms around finding avenues to increase “creative juices” or getting in a state of “flow” – these are references to naturally improving dopamine streams. It makes sense, because all creative endeavours involve the brain, some amount of movement, motivation, and measurable results.
Social inclusion, good conversation, supportive families, and helping others will improve dopamine levels naturally. When joy is shared, it is joy doubled – and when sorrow is shared – it is sorrow halved. We all have the capacity to heal, as well as to help others to heal.
Getting enough sleep cannot be underestimated when it comes to mental health, clarity, motivation and the immune system. Some people do seem to need less sleep – but in reality all people need 7-9 hours of sleep each night to rest and restore the body to maintain optimal health. It is best to avoid artificial sleep aids because there is more happening at a subconscious level when we sleep, than can ever really be understood.
Cold showers or ice cold baths are also on the Scandinavian list of things to do to increase dopamine levels. I suppose the best time to start this plan would be in the hot summer months. A dip in an icy cold river or lake would do the trick even better! Who can bring themselves to getting into an ice cold bath in the middle of winter? It’s definitely not on the instant gratification list!
Instant Gratitude For Such a Beautiful City
Enjoy fresh air and the beauty of nature every single day. A good aim is to get at least two hours of fresh air daily. Children thrive in fresh air. Many of our favourite memories involve playing outside or seeing some magnificent aspect of nature, such as wildlife, sunsets, and snowy mountain peaks.
Kits Beach This Spring
Humour is one of life’s best releases and functions beautifully as a natural and spontaneous mood elevator. Nothing else can compete with wit and laughter. Wit involves the flashing comparison between two things, and lets us quickly see that we take life’s challenges far too seriously. Satire switches a negative thought into a humorous one. Funny people make us laugh. One funny person is far better than ten psychiatrists talking in a tin bucket. Comical banter among friends is delightful – because humour sheds far more truth and light on the human condition than a 974 page manual can.
This brings us to the things to avoid, in order to prevent a depletion of dopamine in our systems. Ironically, anything that leads to instant gratification messes with dopamine levels. “First it giveth and then it taketh away” – as the Proverb goes. The things to avoid:
Too much of anything for prolonged periods will stimulate and then exhaust dopamine levels. These activities include gambling, alcohol, all drugs, social media, Internet browsing to excess, gaming, watching television, etc. It is good advice to apply some of the principles of fasting to Internet, television, phone usage – or any other activity with mood elevating or “escapism” components. Even exercise, if done to excess – can be addictive and counter productive.
Avoid or restrict fast foods to once or twice a month, as opposed to habitual use. There is a fat/sugar balance in processed and fast foods known as the “bliss factor”. This addictive blend of sugar and fat can create an unnatural dopamine stream that will lead to a depletion and subsequent lows, destabilization of blood sugar, and other unpleasant side effects. Be wary of additives, especially MSG and artificial sweeteners.
Whatever we do as individuals to escape what is happening around and within us – will eventually deplete dopamine. This is an inventory only we as individuals can assess and learn to moderate.
Stress cannot be avoided completely. But the stress hormones released by the adrenal glands play an important role in mood, anxiety and mood disorders. Therefore it is important to recognize what the stressors are and create a “to-do list” to alleviate and prevent stressors from creating a spiralling downward effect on our well-being.
Challenging negative thoughts. I have learned that many negative thoughts have origins and associations with painful memories. We often get mired down in negative thoughts that are triggered by a memory association, and then mushroom into a big deal without the evidence or rationale to support our reactions.
Since dopamine was first discovered in the fifties – there has been more than a hundred thousand research articles written about it. Although some of those articles are quite controversial and narrow, we can help ourselves by increasing practical knowledge around the subject.
Knowledge is power because it is the precursor to sifting and then applying those basic principles to our own lives. We can make changes to our own dopamine levels without the need for toxic medications that have numerous side effects, damage the brain, alter neurochemistry in unknown ways, interact with food and anything else we ingest – and have few if any proven benefits.
We do have the capacity to monitor and change our own thoughts and habits. There is no scientific evidence whatsoever to prove that drugs can change ingrained thought patterns. Similar to our physical bodies, we can exercise our thoughts to help eliminate unfounded negativity by recognizing triggers and changing our reactions to them.
We now know that opiates (and many other prescription drugs) will interfere with, and quickly bind to dopamine receptors in the brain. But overall, the complexity of the drugs that interfere with dopamine and neurochemistry is poorly understood pseudoscience lacking in knowledge about the overall global impact on all bodily functions. Our bodies and brains involve complex systems that interact with one another at a molecular level.
There is nothing holistic about chemical interferences with dopamine. Dopamine is not just about improved mood – it is central to all movements, to include coordination, balance and the communication between billions of neurons and nerves. We do not want to mess with dopamine – if we really know what is good for us. Our bodies are smarter than poorly understood, rudimentary and narrow minded science. We are not meant to be guinea pigs. Doctors are not meant to be gods, guided by Big Pharma and profit motive either.
Pharmaceuticals are rapidly becoming the number one cause of death in all age groups. There is not enough empirical evidence due to pharmaceutical lobbying to even measure the depth and breadth of other damages caused by them. As just some examples, these drug induced hazards include falls, accidents, uncharacteristic violent outbursts, drug induced suicides, drug induced movement disorders and life threatening agranulocytosis. There are interactions with other drugs, interactions with food, interactions with alcohol, individual genetic markers, destabilizing and sickening withdrawal and detox symptoms, irreversible damages to the nervous system, damages to liver and kidney function, permanent brain damage, increased risk of cardiac arrest and stroke – and many other iatrogenic medical hazards that are secondary to the injudicious use of psychoactive medications.
There are huge profit motives surrounding the over prescribing of potent mood altering and psychoactive drugs and pain killers. We only need to do one hour of research, or less – to convince us that countless people are falling victim to addictions and harm stemming from the pharmaceutical profit motive. We can avoid those pitfalls by making some specific and positive changes to lifestyle and patterns of thought. We have a fundamental right to say no to them.
Self discipline is the basis for self control. In the absence of creating any harm through overt behaviours (such as violence), no one has the right to “thought reform” another human being. Freedom of thought, belief and opinion is a fundamental human right, which is clearly stated in the Canadian Charter of Rights – as well as the Universal Declaration of Human Rights.
CANADIAN CHARTER OF RIGHTS AND FREEDOMS
Whereas Canada is founded upon principles that recognize the supremacy of God and the rule of law:
Guarantee of Rights and Freedoms
1. The Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms guarantees the rights and freedoms set out in it subject only to such reasonable limits prescribed by law as can be demonstrably justified in a free and democratic society.
2. Everyone has the following fundamental freedoms:
(a) freedom of conscience and religion;
(b) freedom of thought, belief, opinion and expression, including freedom of the press and other media of communication;
(c) freedom of peaceful assembly; and
(d) freedom of association.
We are wise to acknowledge negative or irrational thinking for our own well-being and mental health – but in the absence of creating any real danger to anyone, thoughts cannot be diagnosed or monitored by anyone other than the individual. See if there is anyone, regardless of their education or inclinations toward pharmaceutical pseudoscience – who can challenge that thought!
It takes a thought provoking resistance to avoid being coerced into taking prescription drugs as a damaging pseudo cure for life’s difficulties. We do have the capacity to overcome emotional, physical and psychological toxicity – whether it has been inflicted upon us or self-induced. Like the lyrics in the Guy Clark song “To Live Is To Fly” –
“We all got holes to fill Them holes are all that’s real Some fall on you like a storm Sometimes you dig your own”
Copyright Valerie J. Hayes and Quiet West Vintage (2019). Unauthorised use and/or duplication of this material without express and written permission from this blog’s author/owner is strictly prohibited. Excerpts and links may be used, provided that full and clear credit is given to Valerie J. Hayes and Quiet West Vintage with appropriate and specific direction to the original content.
