9 ms·

Yeah, this is pretty much the most matter-of-fact (and accurate) headline I've seen on hacker news all week. What's funny (funny strange, not funny ha-ha) is t

Yeah, this is pretty much the most matter-of-fact (and accurate) headline I've seen on hacker news all week. What's funny (funny strange, not funny ha-ha) is that there even need to be headlines about this. In my mid twenties I struggled with some of the various addictions that were quite fashionable among the SV tech elite (work, Facebook, Burning Man, psychedelics, in that order). Thankfully I survived that period and was able to reflect on it, at which point a boatload of repressed childhood trauma began surfacing. After a number of years of working through that, the connection between trauma and addictive tendencies is so painfully obvious. Feeling bad + never learned healthy self-soothing rituals ==> take a hit of something to feel better ==> rinse and repeat. I've known enough other people who struggled with similar issues to understand that my experience is hardly unique. I would go so far as to say that anyone who ever experienced addiction will understand at some intuitive level that their dysfunctional behaviors are connected to past trauma. The question is, why is mainstream psychiatry still so obsessed with "curing" addiction via chemical means, as opposed to through psychology/trauma recovery?

gameswithgo 8y ago
Just because you, and some people you know, have had addiction and trauma, does not mean there is a connection, and certainly that connection is not obvious. I have relatives and friends with serious addiction problems who had no serious past trauma (of the kind described in this article)
- mindgam3 8y ago
  Introduce me to any one of these people. I can almost guarantee that every single one has some form of developmental trauma. I’m willing to be proven wrong, but after seeing a dozen ish cases up close and personal, I’m currently batting 1000. I would bet that the reason you are unaware of the past trauma is because the individuals have chosen not to disclose it to you, due to the stigma and shame associated with opening up. Also, in the most severe cases, the core wound is generally repressed until some shock to the system causes it to be more accessible.
  - biotech 8y ago
    I can guarantee that there are many people who have no past trauma who have addiction. I can't say exactly how common it is (it may be a minority for all I know), but I know for a fact that they are there.
    - mindgam3 8y ago
      I’m sure there are some of them out there. The world is a big place. My point is, the vast majority of serious cases can be traced to developmental trauma.
      - DanBC 8y ago
        > the vast majority of serious cases can be traced to developmental trauma. Citation needed.
        mindgam3 8y ago
        Let me qualify that: every single case I have personally encountered, which is on the order of a dozen, can be traced to trauma. I’m making an educated guess about the wider prevalence. Getting societal scale data is practically impossible for many reasons including privacy. However, for those looking for some data points, I’m sure Gabor Mate’s book mentioned in the original article is full of examples. The most convincing academic references I am aware of at this time is are Dr. Bessel van der Kolk (“The Body Keeps the Score”, focused on PTSD) and Christine Courtois’s books including “Treatment of Complex Trauma“ and “Healing the Incest Wound”, both of which cite a large amount of research literature.
    - mjevans 8y ago
      I hypothesize that occasionally the trauma is being in the wrong social environment; being peer pressured in to something that digs in hooks.
  - robocat 8y ago
    I would like to see the results of a double blind test - if we look for trauma we can find it; or create it: https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/False_memory_syndrome https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/False_memory_syndrome From the article: "in his 40s and 50s, he began to unravel the root cause – and that took him all the way back to Budapest, where he was born in January 1944. Two months later, [snip] “Right now,” the doctor replied, “all the Jewish babies are crying.” This is because, explains Maté, what happens to the parent happens to the child: the mothers were terrified, the babies were suffering, Later, Maté’s mother, fearing for his survival, left him for a month in the care of a stranger. All this, he explains, gave him a lifelong sense of abandonment and loss which had an impact on his psychological health. [snip] To compensate for his buried trauma, he had buried himself in work and neglected his family." I get that is a truth for him, but it sounds contrived as only a psychologist can do (without more context)
- Nasrudith 8y ago
  Lack of purpose itself can be a low-key trauma in itself. As infamously seen by the opiate epidemics. Their parents may not have been beating them but a sense of no future can still be damaging.
  - ljm 8y ago
    We're looking at emotional abuse, not physical abuse. Trauma isn't necessarily being beaten half to death by your parents, it's also having nurturing and support purposefully withdrawn, or being made wholly unavailable. A kid can feel neglected and abandoned because they might have food and a roof over their head, but they're not getting nearly enough hugs and cuddles as they need. Or they grow older and they're not given any trust, the parents assume the worst intention the whole time and the kid becomes a scapegoat. Or it's applied so inconsistently that you don't even know what's right and wrong, because you do one thing one day and it's praised and you do it the next day and you get your ass beaten for it. It's not the sense of no future, it's the lack of nurture and care. And it festers because there's this whole belief that parents know best. The kid knows a damn lot too and needs to be heard.
    - Nasrudith 8y ago
      I'm aware that emotional abuse can be quite damaging as well - despite how I may have phrased it poorly. I meant it more 'less than obvious' than emotional didn't matter. Still that is interesting and I wonder if it maps well to the rates of depression with the rise of paranoid helicopter parenting or if that is a spurious correlation in itself. I have remarked that parents these days seem to consider it /ideal/ to be acting like they are antagonists of a YA Dystopian novel where they see devices sold boasting "Track your children secretively through technology" and think "That sounds like a good idea." instead of "That sounds incredibly messed up and would be considered satire a few decades ago." It might be more of a middle class issue - I'll admit to not having intimate details across the economic spectrum.
phren0logy 8y ago
> The question is, why is mainstream psychiatry still so obsessed with "curing" addiction via chemical means, as opposed to through psychology/trauma recovery? I'm a psychiatrist, and at the risk of sounding defensive, I'm not sure where you are getting this from. I have never worked at any addiction program where psychological and behavioral interventions weren't the primary mode of treatment. There are medications that can help with diagnoses related to trauma or other contributors to addiction (PTSD, depression, etc), and a handful of medications that can address some limited facets of chemical addiction, but the bulk of treatment is non-pharamcologic. The same is true when I got to national and international addiction conferences: medications are a side-dish, not the main course.
- rustcharm 8y ago
  And also, if and when medications are very effective, why not use them?
- mindgam3 8y ago
  With respect, most psychiatrists I know generally pay lip service to the idea of psychological counseling, but when the rubber meets the road end up relying on meds. I mean think about it. If you actually believed the root cause was psychological, you would become a clinical psychologist instead of going to med school just so you could have the title of Doctor and prescribe meds. If you are one of the “other” kinds of psychiatrists, who deeply believe in psychological trauma recovery and are trying to fix the system from the inside, then I sincerely commend you for your work.
  - phren0logy 8y ago
    I probably know more psychiatrists than you do, so I'll offer a counterpoint: Outside of starting your own practice, nobody will pay psychiatrists to do talk therapy when they can pay somebody who didn't go to medical school to do it. For this reason, we end up doing mostly medication management, but at a good clinic this is as part of a team of social workers, psychologists, occupational therapists, etc. Ironically, most US readers of HN will never have seen such a clinic, as the only places actually staffed this way are things like county mental health departments in states where they can get funded. So, anyway, psychiatry training REQUIRES that each of us provide many hours of supervised psychotherapy. Some training programs are better than others, but we all graduate with a working knowledge of psychotherapy. Many of us have less opportunity to use it than we would like. Which brings me to my final point: it's not either / or. That's a false dichotomy. It's about the right tool (or combination of tools) for the job. There are plenty of problems that there is no pill for, and a few problems that no amount of talking about it is going to fix. Horses for courses, and all that. edit: I'm sorry to see you are getting downvoted. I think many people arrive at the same conclusion you have, based on their experiences. I can totally understand how you arrived at that opinion.
thoughtexplorer 8y ago
> at which point a boatload of repressed childhood trauma began surfacing. Can you describe this? How did they surface, how were you able to identify the repressed trauma?
- mindgam3 8y ago
  A lot was through dreams, which I began writing down in my twenties when I got fairly fascinated with lucid dreaming. Other times there were specific memories of abuse that popped into my head after not having conscious access to them since childhood. A strange sensation, like recovering a lost piece of my identity. I also greatly benefited from keeping an online searchable journal for years where I would record all of these stray memories and thoughts, even the ones I couldn’t make sense of at the time. Later on when I had more pieces of the puzzle I could refer to these notes and understand what my unconscious had been trying to tell me all along.
  - sibeliuss 8y ago
    Do you think psychedelic use had any role in helping facilitate your awareness?
    - mindgam3 8y ago
      Yes. Extremely useful for undoing the effects of conditioning. For severe cases I would say it’s almost indispensable. However, I would strongly recommend proceeding with more caution than I did. That means taking psychedelics in a safe space with a clear medicinal intent and with a trusted guide, as opposed to rolling the dice by taking them casually or recreationally. You want to be 100% safe when your demons finally come out of hiding to reveal themselves to you, otherwise you can harm yourself in the process of trying to heal yourself. Safety third, that’s what I learned at burning man.
    - simonsaidit 8y ago
      I made my own Changa to handle my own severe stress causing tinnitus so I could barely hear which it took away with one trip and also made me quit a 20 years heavy weed smoking. Gave it to others with the same benefit.. some even told me it stopped them from being suicidal or saved their marriage.my variant will often be memories and real life visions. Friend revealed a sexual abuse he had experienced as a kid that came back to him and explains why he has issues with relationships and religion and only able to deal with it now after his trip.
blueprint 8y ago
Because it would mean facing their own issues and actually understanding psychology instead of thinking that there's such a thing as a chemical imbalance which can act as an original source that leads to disorders like OCD, bipolar, etc., rather than it operating in the inverse direction (past action leading to internal state). In other words, it's hard for those who maintain positions by claiming to know, to admit that they don't know.
- mindgam3 8y ago
  Unfortunately I agree with you. Members of mainstream western society want to take a pill to solve all their problems. And there’s an entire Pharmalogical Industrial Complex supported by countless clinicians and academics, all of whom are highly incentivized to quash any attempts to approach the problem from the only angle that has a chance of working. And why would they? They’re all getting rich and tenured.
  - blueprint 8y ago
    Look at us getting downvoted :)
  - boomboomsubban 8y ago
    I have seen several psychiatrists, and all of them have prescribed therapy in addition to any medication. The medication is supposed to be a temporary aid while you get fixed, and generally it is the patients who only take the medication.
    - mindgam3 8y ago
      Right. That’s what everyone says, meds are temporary. In your case, were they temporary or are you still taking them?
      - boomboomsubban 8y ago
        I took them until I finally found and went to therapist that could help. That part was significantly more difficult, many people stumble there and stick to the medication for years.
ambicapter 8y ago
What kind of trauma results in the sort of mild addictions a lot of us have (like netflix, internet addiction)
- serpix 8y ago
  those are not mild addictions at all. Avoidance is triggered when the mind is scared and it will grasp at anything external rather than go inside. Going inside will bring you to your self and this means ego death. Try it. Next time you observe the mind when you reach for the phone. Wait just a tiny bit and observe the emotion just under the surface noise.
- mindgam3 8y ago
  I believe the technical term is “mild trauma.” No, but seriously, like everything it’s a spectrum. On one end you could call it “somewhat lax parenting” like occasional neglect or emotional/verbal abuse when parents are stressed out. On the other end you have severe/chronic emotional abuse, sexual abuse, brainwashing, etc. I would also caution against the term “mild addiction”. It’s either an addiction or it isn’t. I get what you’re trying to say though. Maybe “less harmful” or “less dangerous” would be more accurate at the risk of being less concise.
- astockwell 8y ago
  Trauma can be a rapid gateway to addiction, but it’s not required. The brain will seek to repeat anything that brings with it a happy shot of dopamine.
  - vonseel 8y ago
    That’s pretty much what I think. Sometimes it’s overwhelming how much emphasis is placed on trauma and addiction. It seems some people would be quick to label seeking any behavior that feels good (sex, having drinks with friends and being silly, etc.) as addiction and therefore the user must be burdened by past trauma. I have no doubts that trauma and it’s connection to addiction is real, but the distinction between addiction and “normal use” is blurry and often a meandering line. What starts as normal use may evolve into unhealthy use and spiral out of control. Or it might just stay normal forever. Like everything, there’s a range. Sometimes the trauma is self-inflicted, in form of isolating and loneliness - and a self-destructive circle inwards. I have personal experience with this.
musha68k 8y ago
Dr. Gabor Maté touches on many of these issues surrounding addiction. There is a very insightful interview with him on Russell Brand’s podcast: https://www.russellbrand.com/podcast/053-dr-gabor-mate-damaged-leaders-rule-addicted-world/ https://www.russellbrand.com/podcast/053-dr-gabor-mate-damag...
WalterSear 8y ago
>mainstream psychiatry still so obsessed with "curing" addiction via chemical means, as opposed to through psychology/trauma recovery? Because that method can't be scaled and monetized, so it can't pay for its own political representation.
- DanBC 8y ago
  Of course it can be scaled and monetized. Psychologists are experts in branding and developing models which you can apply to your clients if you buy the workbooks and get the training and gain the accreditation.
  - WalterSear 8y ago
    Nonsense. Workbooks aren't therapy, and therapy cannot be mass produced.
    - DanBC 8y ago
      > Workbooks aren't therapy You may want to look at the hundreds of computer based or book based CBT courses available for one example. See also things like Headspace.
      - WalterSear 8y ago
        I have a master's in Psychological research and have worked on clinical smart apps. Only insurance companies and entrepreneurs, rather than qualified subject matter experts, are trying to replace therapy with them, because they aren't therapy. The only FDA approved 'smart app' currently is for forcing compliance from outpatient drug addicts in court mandated treatment programs. The apps you refer to are appropriate for the 'worried well', and people unfamiliar with the basics of mental hygiene. They aren't remotely intended as a replacement for anything currently in the clinical arsenal, which requires a safe, human space with a trained and talented professional to make a difference. And, even then, it's not a sure thing. It's not something you can wrap in a chatbot, journal, or 'daily checkin' survey. We have had the paper equivalents for decades, and yet they have never grown to be anything more than adjunctive tools that they are today. The self-help section of bookstores has always been the butt of jokes, for good reason.
DanBC 8y ago
> The question is, why is mainstream psychiatry still so obsessed with "curing" addiction via chemical means, as opposed to through psychology/trauma recovery? Substance misuse treatment, especially for opioids, _must_ include medically assissted treatment or it fails. The US has a bunch of opioid addiction treatment centres that don't offer any medical assisstance at all - purely psychogical - and all the evidence we have show that they don't work. You're right that people need a holistic package of care, and that this often isn't provided in substance misuse treatment. But I don't know any treatment in the UK that is mostly medication.
r00fus 8y ago
Pills are relatively cheap compared to psychologist time so are sometimes dispensed without therapy to cut costs (some state MedicAid programs were notorious for this - their clients were lower income thus uninformed and powerless).
magic-chicken 8y ago
>> never learned healthy self-soothing rituals. Can you talk more about the rituals you learned ?
- mindgam3 8y ago
  In no particular order: breath meditation, bullet chess, exercise, sauna, Netflix, pizza, friendship, and deep house. Mostly bullet and deep house, if I’m being honest.
bernardlunn 8y ago
Some addictions are more socially acceptable than others. On a continuum: Least acceptable: Meth, heroin Most acceptable: work (SV issue) Middle: alcohol
- nicoburns 8y ago
  You could add caffeine to the most acceptable list.
- novaRom 8y ago
  Middle: porn

gameswithgo 8y ago

Just because you, and some people you know, have had addiction and trauma, does not mean there is a connection, and certainly that connection is not obvious. I have relatives and friends with serious addiction problems who had no serious past trauma (of the kind described in this article)

mindgam3 8y ago
Introduce me to any one of these people. I can almost guarantee that every single one has some form of developmental trauma. I’m willing to be proven wrong, but after seeing a dozen ish cases up close and personal, I’m currently batting 1000. I would bet that the reason you are unaware of the past trauma is because the individuals have chosen not to disclose it to you, due to the stigma and shame associated with opening up. Also, in the most severe cases, the core wound is generally repressed until some shock to the system causes it to be more accessible.
- biotech 8y ago
  I can guarantee that there are many people who have no past trauma who have addiction. I can't say exactly how common it is (it may be a minority for all I know), but I know for a fact that they are there.
  - mindgam3 8y ago
    I’m sure there are some of them out there. The world is a big place. My point is, the vast majority of serious cases can be traced to developmental trauma.
    - DanBC 8y ago
      > the vast majority of serious cases can be traced to developmental trauma. Citation needed.
      - mindgam3 8y ago
        Let me qualify that: every single case I have personally encountered, which is on the order of a dozen, can be traced to trauma. I’m making an educated guess about the wider prevalence. Getting societal scale data is practically impossible for many reasons including privacy. However, for those looking for some data points, I’m sure Gabor Mate’s book mentioned in the original article is full of examples. The most convincing academic references I am aware of at this time is are Dr. Bessel van der Kolk (“The Body Keeps the Score”, focused on PTSD) and Christine Courtois’s books including “Treatment of Complex Trauma“ and “Healing the Incest Wound”, both of which cite a large amount of research literature.
  - mjevans 8y ago
    I hypothesize that occasionally the trauma is being in the wrong social environment; being peer pressured in to something that digs in hooks.
- robocat 8y ago
  I would like to see the results of a double blind test - if we look for trauma we can find it; or create it: https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/False_memory_syndrome https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/False_memory_syndrome From the article: "in his 40s and 50s, he began to unravel the root cause – and that took him all the way back to Budapest, where he was born in January 1944. Two months later, [snip] “Right now,” the doctor replied, “all the Jewish babies are crying.” This is because, explains Maté, what happens to the parent happens to the child: the mothers were terrified, the babies were suffering, Later, Maté’s mother, fearing for his survival, left him for a month in the care of a stranger. All this, he explains, gave him a lifelong sense of abandonment and loss which had an impact on his psychological health. [snip] To compensate for his buried trauma, he had buried himself in work and neglected his family." I get that is a truth for him, but it sounds contrived as only a psychologist can do (without more context)
Nasrudith 8y ago
Lack of purpose itself can be a low-key trauma in itself. As infamously seen by the opiate epidemics. Their parents may not have been beating them but a sense of no future can still be damaging.
- ljm 8y ago
  We're looking at emotional abuse, not physical abuse. Trauma isn't necessarily being beaten half to death by your parents, it's also having nurturing and support purposefully withdrawn, or being made wholly unavailable. A kid can feel neglected and abandoned because they might have food and a roof over their head, but they're not getting nearly enough hugs and cuddles as they need. Or they grow older and they're not given any trust, the parents assume the worst intention the whole time and the kid becomes a scapegoat. Or it's applied so inconsistently that you don't even know what's right and wrong, because you do one thing one day and it's praised and you do it the next day and you get your ass beaten for it. It's not the sense of no future, it's the lack of nurture and care. And it festers because there's this whole belief that parents know best. The kid knows a damn lot too and needs to be heard.
  - Nasrudith 8y ago
    I'm aware that emotional abuse can be quite damaging as well - despite how I may have phrased it poorly. I meant it more 'less than obvious' than emotional didn't matter. Still that is interesting and I wonder if it maps well to the rates of depression with the rise of paranoid helicopter parenting or if that is a spurious correlation in itself. I have remarked that parents these days seem to consider it /ideal/ to be acting like they are antagonists of a YA Dystopian novel where they see devices sold boasting "Track your children secretively through technology" and think "That sounds like a good idea." instead of "That sounds incredibly messed up and would be considered satire a few decades ago." It might be more of a middle class issue - I'll admit to not having intimate details across the economic spectrum.

phren0logy 8y ago

> The question is, why is mainstream psychiatry still so obsessed with "curing" addiction via chemical means, as opposed to through psychology/trauma recovery? I'm a psychiatrist, and at the risk of sounding defensive, I'm not sure where you are getting this from. I have never worked at any addiction program where psychological and behavioral interventions weren't the primary mode of treatment. There are medications that can help with diagnoses related to trauma or other contributors to addiction (PTSD, depression, etc), and a handful of medications that can address some limited facets of chemical addiction, but the bulk of treatment is non-pharamcologic. The same is true when I got to national and international addiction conferences: medications are a side-dish, not the main course.

rustcharm 8y ago
And also, if and when medications are very effective, why not use them?
mindgam3 8y ago
With respect, most psychiatrists I know generally pay lip service to the idea of psychological counseling, but when the rubber meets the road end up relying on meds. I mean think about it. If you actually believed the root cause was psychological, you would become a clinical psychologist instead of going to med school just so you could have the title of Doctor and prescribe meds. If you are one of the “other” kinds of psychiatrists, who deeply believe in psychological trauma recovery and are trying to fix the system from the inside, then I sincerely commend you for your work.
- phren0logy 8y ago
  I probably know more psychiatrists than you do, so I'll offer a counterpoint: Outside of starting your own practice, nobody will pay psychiatrists to do talk therapy when they can pay somebody who didn't go to medical school to do it. For this reason, we end up doing mostly medication management, but at a good clinic this is as part of a team of social workers, psychologists, occupational therapists, etc. Ironically, most US readers of HN will never have seen such a clinic, as the only places actually staffed this way are things like county mental health departments in states where they can get funded. So, anyway, psychiatry training REQUIRES that each of us provide many hours of supervised psychotherapy. Some training programs are better than others, but we all graduate with a working knowledge of psychotherapy. Many of us have less opportunity to use it than we would like. Which brings me to my final point: it's not either / or. That's a false dichotomy. It's about the right tool (or combination of tools) for the job. There are plenty of problems that there is no pill for, and a few problems that no amount of talking about it is going to fix. Horses for courses, and all that. edit: I'm sorry to see you are getting downvoted. I think many people arrive at the same conclusion you have, based on their experiences. I can totally understand how you arrived at that opinion.

thoughtexplorer 8y ago

> at which point a boatload of repressed childhood trauma began surfacing. Can you describe this? How did they surface, how were you able to identify the repressed trauma?

mindgam3 8y ago
A lot was through dreams, which I began writing down in my twenties when I got fairly fascinated with lucid dreaming. Other times there were specific memories of abuse that popped into my head after not having conscious access to them since childhood. A strange sensation, like recovering a lost piece of my identity. I also greatly benefited from keeping an online searchable journal for years where I would record all of these stray memories and thoughts, even the ones I couldn’t make sense of at the time. Later on when I had more pieces of the puzzle I could refer to these notes and understand what my unconscious had been trying to tell me all along.
- sibeliuss 8y ago
  Do you think psychedelic use had any role in helping facilitate your awareness?
  - mindgam3 8y ago
    Yes. Extremely useful for undoing the effects of conditioning. For severe cases I would say it’s almost indispensable. However, I would strongly recommend proceeding with more caution than I did. That means taking psychedelics in a safe space with a clear medicinal intent and with a trusted guide, as opposed to rolling the dice by taking them casually or recreationally. You want to be 100% safe when your demons finally come out of hiding to reveal themselves to you, otherwise you can harm yourself in the process of trying to heal yourself. Safety third, that’s what I learned at burning man.
  - simonsaidit 8y ago
    I made my own Changa to handle my own severe stress causing tinnitus so I could barely hear which it took away with one trip and also made me quit a 20 years heavy weed smoking. Gave it to others with the same benefit.. some even told me it stopped them from being suicidal or saved their marriage.my variant will often be memories and real life visions. Friend revealed a sexual abuse he had experienced as a kid that came back to him and explains why he has issues with relationships and religion and only able to deal with it now after his trip.

blueprint 8y ago

Because it would mean facing their own issues and actually understanding psychology instead of thinking that there's such a thing as a chemical imbalance which can act as an original source that leads to disorders like OCD, bipolar, etc., rather than it operating in the inverse direction (past action leading to internal state). In other words, it's hard for those who maintain positions by claiming to know, to admit that they don't know.

mindgam3 8y ago
Unfortunately I agree with you. Members of mainstream western society want to take a pill to solve all their problems. And there’s an entire Pharmalogical Industrial Complex supported by countless clinicians and academics, all of whom are highly incentivized to quash any attempts to approach the problem from the only angle that has a chance of working. And why would they? They’re all getting rich and tenured.
- blueprint 8y ago
  Look at us getting downvoted :)
- boomboomsubban 8y ago
  I have seen several psychiatrists, and all of them have prescribed therapy in addition to any medication. The medication is supposed to be a temporary aid while you get fixed, and generally it is the patients who only take the medication.
  - mindgam3 8y ago
    Right. That’s what everyone says, meds are temporary. In your case, were they temporary or are you still taking them?
    - boomboomsubban 8y ago
      I took them until I finally found and went to therapist that could help. That part was significantly more difficult, many people stumble there and stick to the medication for years.

ambicapter 8y ago

What kind of trauma results in the sort of mild addictions a lot of us have (like netflix, internet addiction)

serpix 8y ago
those are not mild addictions at all. Avoidance is triggered when the mind is scared and it will grasp at anything external rather than go inside. Going inside will bring you to your self and this means ego death. Try it. Next time you observe the mind when you reach for the phone. Wait just a tiny bit and observe the emotion just under the surface noise.
mindgam3 8y ago
I believe the technical term is “mild trauma.” No, but seriously, like everything it’s a spectrum. On one end you could call it “somewhat lax parenting” like occasional neglect or emotional/verbal abuse when parents are stressed out. On the other end you have severe/chronic emotional abuse, sexual abuse, brainwashing, etc. I would also caution against the term “mild addiction”. It’s either an addiction or it isn’t. I get what you’re trying to say though. Maybe “less harmful” or “less dangerous” would be more accurate at the risk of being less concise.
astockwell 8y ago
Trauma can be a rapid gateway to addiction, but it’s not required. The brain will seek to repeat anything that brings with it a happy shot of dopamine.
- vonseel 8y ago
  That’s pretty much what I think. Sometimes it’s overwhelming how much emphasis is placed on trauma and addiction. It seems some people would be quick to label seeking any behavior that feels good (sex, having drinks with friends and being silly, etc.) as addiction and therefore the user must be burdened by past trauma. I have no doubts that trauma and it’s connection to addiction is real, but the distinction between addiction and “normal use” is blurry and often a meandering line. What starts as normal use may evolve into unhealthy use and spiral out of control. Or it might just stay normal forever. Like everything, there’s a range. Sometimes the trauma is self-inflicted, in form of isolating and loneliness - and a self-destructive circle inwards. I have personal experience with this.

musha68k 8y ago

Dr. Gabor Maté touches on many of these issues surrounding addiction. There is a very insightful interview with him on Russell Brand’s podcast: https://www.russellbrand.com/podcast/053-dr-gabor-mate-damaged-leaders-rule-addicted-world/ https://www.russellbrand.com/podcast/053-dr-gabor-mate-damag...

WalterSear 8y ago

>mainstream psychiatry still so obsessed with "curing" addiction via chemical means, as opposed to through psychology/trauma recovery? Because that method can't be scaled and monetized, so it can't pay for its own political representation.

DanBC 8y ago
Of course it can be scaled and monetized. Psychologists are experts in branding and developing models which you can apply to your clients if you buy the workbooks and get the training and gain the accreditation.
- WalterSear 8y ago
  Nonsense. Workbooks aren't therapy, and therapy cannot be mass produced.
  - DanBC 8y ago
    > Workbooks aren't therapy You may want to look at the hundreds of computer based or book based CBT courses available for one example. See also things like Headspace.
    - WalterSear 8y ago
      I have a master's in Psychological research and have worked on clinical smart apps. Only insurance companies and entrepreneurs, rather than qualified subject matter experts, are trying to replace therapy with them, because they aren't therapy. The only FDA approved 'smart app' currently is for forcing compliance from outpatient drug addicts in court mandated treatment programs. The apps you refer to are appropriate for the 'worried well', and people unfamiliar with the basics of mental hygiene. They aren't remotely intended as a replacement for anything currently in the clinical arsenal, which requires a safe, human space with a trained and talented professional to make a difference. And, even then, it's not a sure thing. It's not something you can wrap in a chatbot, journal, or 'daily checkin' survey. We have had the paper equivalents for decades, and yet they have never grown to be anything more than adjunctive tools that they are today. The self-help section of bookstores has always been the butt of jokes, for good reason.

DanBC 8y ago

> The question is, why is mainstream psychiatry still so obsessed with "curing" addiction via chemical means, as opposed to through psychology/trauma recovery? Substance misuse treatment, especially for opioids, _must_ include medically assissted treatment or it fails. The US has a bunch of opioid addiction treatment centres that don't offer any medical assisstance at all - purely psychogical - and all the evidence we have show that they don't work. You're right that people need a holistic package of care, and that this often isn't provided in substance misuse treatment. But I don't know any treatment in the UK that is mostly medication.

r00fus 8y ago

Pills are relatively cheap compared to psychologist time so are sometimes dispensed without therapy to cut costs (some state MedicAid programs were notorious for this - their clients were lower income thus uninformed and powerless).

magic-chicken 8y ago

>> never learned healthy self-soothing rituals. Can you talk more about the rituals you learned ?

mindgam3 8y ago
In no particular order: breath meditation, bullet chess, exercise, sauna, Netflix, pizza, friendship, and deep house. Mostly bullet and deep house, if I’m being honest.

bernardlunn 8y ago

Some addictions are more socially acceptable than others. On a continuum: Least acceptable: Meth, heroin Most acceptable: work (SV issue) Middle: alcohol

nicoburns 8y ago
You could add caffeine to the most acceptable list.
novaRom 8y ago
Middle: porn