Drug addiction and other false identities

Motto: In the end, Love indeed conquers all. (GM)

Drug addiction and other false identities. Or maybe they are real? To understand this we need first to define identity. We got some very specific beliefs, for example ones about a particular friend. Whatever he will do, we will link the meaning of his actions to the way we think and feel about him. This could be true or just another illusion. Some beliefs, however, have more influence on our life, and they can have much further reaching consequences. They can be called global beliefs. An above any of those, is the core belief that is the ultimate filter to all of our perceptions. Some call this Ego; some define it as our Identity. This belief directly controls the consistency of our life decisions. Important idea: what we can or can’t do, what is possible or impossible for us, is not a direct result of our capability, is in fact direct response at our beliefs of who we believe we are. This last phrase only explain the world class violinist experiment (under hypnosis some beginner violinist were convinced that they are in fact world class experts training for 30-40 years, and when they played, they played like a world class ones, some word class violinists were convinces they are absolute beginners, and they played as a beginner when they tried – in conclusion we can reach greatness when we let themselves to, not before, but I close this transgression here). The beliefs that we use to define our own individuality, what make us unique from other individuals and our sense of certainty about who we are, it is what create our Identity and the boundaries and limits within which we live. Our capability is constant, but how much of it we use depends upon the identity we have for ourselves. And here we can mention the Pygmalion effect – the individual and personality that others perceive you to be controls their responses to you. (idea inspired by the movie ‘Pygmalion in the classroom’ where one teacher convinced his class that they are exceptional, despite them being totally average, and the whole class achieved genius like results in very short time).  Another idea in this direction is that we will act consistently with our definition of Self, whether this view is accurate or not. The only problem is that the Pygmalion effect also works very well in reverse (think about how many times you were saying to your child that he is stupid and clumsy at the tiniest mistake and stop doing that in the future). Something repeated enough became a self-fulfilling prophecy. And this is how we went to all this bunch of data to finally reach the subject of addiction, any kind of addiction, but we will insist mostly on drug addiction.

Anyone who believes that they have developed a drug addiction can clearly change. It will be difficult, but a lasting change is possible and can be made. Conversely, anyone who believes himself/herself to be an addict will usually return to the use of the substance he/she is addicted even after weeks or months of abstinence. Why, will you ask? Is because whatever you believe that you are. You don’t have an addiction, you see yourself as an addict. Remember that once anyone has a conviction about anything, he/she will ignore and even defend against any evidence that’s contrary to his/her belief. Unconsciously, this person will not believe that he/she can change long-term and this will control his/her behavior. Also it is a benefit involving the process on maintaining this destructive behavior. You can blame your addiction on something you can’t control, instead of facing the reality that taking drugs, for example, is a conscious decision that you make every day. When you are there, surrendering your identity would be even more painful than the destructive effect of the drugs themselves. When you develop a new way of defining yourself (Christian, Muslim, leader, health nut, “I am the living proof that you can quit drugs”), whatever kind of identity, but one that would never ever consider the use of drugs, that’s when your behavior will change.  The identity change will shift all yours behaviors and allow them to create long term physiological changes that are consistent with the new identity. And going even further, one shift in identity can cause a shift of your entire Master System. In this stage, even if you will be offered drugs for free, you will just say  ‘I am not that kind of person, That’s who I used to be.’.

How we do this? Easy to be said, but hard to be done? No way. It is easier that you can imagine. I will start describing some experiments in order to make you grasp the concept.

Experiment 1: Rat Park – researched by Bruce Alexander, Robert Coambs, Patricia Hadaway and Barry Beyerstein

In the 1960-1980 we had some experiments on rats closed solitary in Skinner box, and was given the possibility to choose between A. water and B. water solution of heroin, cocaine or other class A drugs. The rat will always choose the option B. heroin solution, and will use this until they will die by overdose. What a triumph! This showed the danger and the addiction created by most of the drugs, and everybody acclaimed this research.  Later, a group of researchers from Simon Fraser University, Bruce Alexander, Robert Coambs, Patricia Hadaway and Barry Beyerstein, took a different approach. Here is what Bruce Alexander said about the experiment:

“We compared the drug intake of rats housed in a reasonably normal environment 24 hours a day with rats kept in isolation in the solitary confinement cages that were standard in those days. This required building a great big plywood box on the floor of our laboratory, filling it with things that rats like, such as platforms for climbing, tin cans for hiding in, wood chips for strewing around, and running wheels for exercise. Naturally we included lots of rats of both sexes, and naturally the place soon was teeming with babies. The rats loved it and we loved it too, so we called it “Rat Park”. We ran several experiments comparing the drug consumption of rats in Rat Park with rats in solitary confinement in regular laboratory cages. In virtually every experiment, the rats in solitary confinement consumed more drug solution, by every measure we could devise. And not just a little more. A lot more. Here are the results of one of our first experiments. You will see at a glance that the rats in Rat Park, called the “Social Females” and “Social Males” in this graph, are consuming hardly any morphine solution, but the “Caged Females” and “Caged Males” are consuming a lot. In this experiment the females consumed more than the males, but that gender difference did not hold up in later experiments. It soon became absolutely clear to us that the earlier Skinner box experiments did not prove that morphine was irresistible to rats. Rather, most of the consumption of rats isolated in a Skinner box was likely to be a response to isolation itself. “

Experiment 2: Quitting drugs after Vietnam War – by Archives of General Psychiatry

After the end of war in Vietnam, 15-20% of the American soldiers were using heroin regularly. It was thought to be the most addictive substance ever produced, a narcotic so powerful that once addiction claimed you, it was nearly impossible to escape.

In response to this report, President Richard Nixon took action. In June of 1971 he announced that he was creating a whole new office — The Special Action Office of Drug Abuse Prevention — dedicated to fighting the evil of drugs. He laid out a program of prevention and rehabilitation, but there was something else Nixon wanted: He wanted to research what happened to the addicted servicemen once they returned home. Soon a comprehensive system was set up so that every enlisted man was tested for heroin addiction before he was allowed to return home. And in this population, Robins did find high rates of addiction: Around 20 percent of the soldiers self-identified as addicts. Those who were addicted were kept in Vietnam until they dried out. When these soldiers finally did return to their lives back in the U.S., Robins tracked them, collecting data at regular intervals. And this is where the story takes a curious turn: According to her research, the number of soldiers who continued their heroin addiction once they returned to the U.S. was shockingly low. "I believe the number of people who actually relapsed to heroin use in the first year was about 5 percent," Jaffe said recently from his suburban Maryland home. In other words, 95 percent of the people who were addicted in Vietnam did not become re-addicted when they returned to the United States. This flew in the face of everything everyone knew both about heroin and drug addiction generally. When addicts were treated in the U.S. and returned to their homes, relapse rates hovered around 90 percent. It didn't make sense. According to Wendy Wood, a psychologist at University of Southern California who researches behavior change, throughout the 1960s, 1970s and 1980s scientists believed that if you wanted to change behavior, the key was to change people's goals and intentions. So we are back at square one: our Identity theory.

Experiment 3: Portugal approach on drugs addiction

After a similar approach of drugs like United States, 1% of Portuguese were heroin addicted, and Portugal had the highest number of HIV infection cases in the civilized world. But in 2001, after a careful research, they decided to decriminalize possession and use of drugs, and the results have been remarkable. The drug continuation use decreased for 45 to 25%. Drug use has declined overall among the 15- to 24-year-old population, those most at risk of initiating drug use. Drug induced deaths amongst users decreased from 90% in 2000 to 10% in 2011. HIV infection cases decreased form 142 cases per million population in 2000 to 30 cases per million population in 2008. Of course, not only the attitude towards drugs point to its effectiveness as an unambiguous sign that decriminalization works, as they modified the welfare system providing a guaranteed minimum income, and shifted all the expenses used in the war with drugs towards integration programs and social accommodation for ex-addicted.

In conclusion, must be a truism, but “Love is the answer!” could be our solution too when we deal with drug addiction in our family and social circles.

It is also enlightening to read this:

1. Drugs as a social construct http://www.cedro-uva.org/lib/cohen.drugs.toc.html   

2.  Stop treating drug users as criminals! http://drgabormate.com/article/stop-treating-drug-users-as-criminals/