Unbroken Brain: A Revolutionary New Way of Understanding Addiction
Maia Szalavitz
Language: English
Pages: 352
ISBN: 1250055822
Format: PDF / Kindle (mobi) / ePub
More people than ever before see themselves as addicted to, or recovering from, addiction, whether it be alcohol or drugs, prescription meds, sex, gambling, porn, or the internet. But despite the unprecedented attention, our understanding of addiction is trapped in unfounded 20th century ideas, addiction as a crime or as brain disease, and in equally outdated treatment.
Challenging both the idea of the addict's "broken brain" and the notion of a simple "addictive personality," Unbroken Brain offers a radical and groundbreaking new perspective, arguing that addictions are learning disorders and shows how seeing the condition this way can untangle our current debates over treatment, prevention and policy. Like autistic traits, addictive behaviors fall on a spectrum -- and they can be a normal response to an extreme situation. By illustrating what addiction is, and is not, the book illustrates how timing, history, family, peers, culture and chemicals come together to create both illness and recovery- and why there is no "addictive personality" or single treatment that works for all.
Combining Maia Szalavitz's personal story with a distillation of more than 25 years of science and research, Unbroken Brain provides a paradigm-shifting approach to thinking about addiction.
teach and empower them to make changes that improve their lives. From the harm reduction perspective, drug use and even addiction isn’t necessarily irrational; it’s a response to the environment and people can learn to make better choices about it. However, these choices will depend on their own values, which may differ from those that governments or health care workers share. Harm reduction inherently respects the dignity of drug users, recognizing that whether or not they want to stop using
substances to be sold without testing makes matters even murkier. Testing of these health store products frequently finds new psychoactive substances that are sometimes also sold as legal highs. And, to make it even more complex, a blanket ban on any chemical that can substitute for an illegal drug runs the risk of accidentally outlawing, say, the cure for Alzheimer’s. Once a drug becomes a controlled substance, research on it is restricted and often requires expensive licensing fees. Many
Africa. I was fascinated. The notion of reincarnation and the idea that we are essentially all parts of a God that has split into a million selves to tell itself a story appealed to me tremendously. I learned that Maia, or, as the Indians spell it, Maya, signified the real world, which is considered the world of illusion, the tale that God tells. Never mind that my mom had picked my name out of a sequel to Mary Poppins where Maia, one of the seven sister stars or Pleiades, comes down and talks to
29-square-foot enclosure—more than 200 times the size of a typical cage—with plenty of space to roam, lots of hidey holes for nesting, and, of course, lots of other rats. “Rat Park” also included walls painted with forest scenes, wood chip bedding, and intriguing objects to play with and exercise on, as well as abundant food and water. The lucky rats chosen to live in Rat Park would be compared to those who lived alone in standard, bare cages. During the experiment, the researchers offered both
themselves, they can’t even smile or laugh—and the experience of birth for most mothers is hardly pleasant. That doesn’t even begin to get into the terrible twos—let alone the teens. What could possibly induce parents to feed, change, and nurture these painfully delivered needy beings for the decades it takes for them to become fully independent? The answer, of course, is the same reward, motivation, and pleasure systems that drive romantic love and addiction. Indeed, the origins of the