Even though the common reader may not be very well versed in the neurological make-up of the brain and the biological observation of addiction, this article discusses dopamine D2 receptors, the relationship between GABA and glutamate, and the pharmaceutical salvation through vaccines and anti-addiction medicine.
In regard to dopamine's potential cause and effect on addiction, Denizet-Lewis says,
In fact, we don't yet know how to do much when it comes to dopamine and addiction. Understanding how the neurotransmitter works may help us to understand addiction better, but it hasn't led to any effective medications, the ultimate goal of many researchers. Because addiction seems to disrupt so many different brain regions, neuroscientists are now casting a wider net in their pursuit of effective medications. For some, the new frontier involves the brain's two major "workhorse" neurotransmitters: GABA and glutamate.
In regard to GABA and it's role in preventing addiction Denizet-Lewis turns to "Hythiam, a Los Angeles-based health care services management company that made national news in the spring when it plastered Chris Farley's face — with the words 'It Wasn't All His Fault.'"
She goes on to quote Sanjay Sabnani, Hythiam's senior vice president for strategic development. He says, "It's all hypothesis at this point, because we haven't sliced open anyone's brain yet, but it seems that normalizing the GABA receptor takes away the craving and anxiety that one would typically experience in the absence of the drug. And it doesn't appear to be happening because of will power, love, God, discipline, family support or anything else. It seems to be happening because the protocol resets a faulty mechanism in the brain."
Soon after reading about the British company Xenova Group Plc creation of effective vaccines for cocaine and nicotine addiction, we read that addiction specialists believe America will stop having to use the word "treat". Rather, we will use "cure".
The biological and neurological advancements that have been made in the last five years are great news for what can be done to aid and prevent suffering due to the effects of addiction. However, as seen evidenced in the article, no one can explain why addiction occurs, and there are high hopes of biologically correcting this problem.
The author does handle the spiritual component of an individual and offers a scientific study that comprimises the foundation of addiction being totally a biological cause.
The author concludes with her story with William C. Moyers. Read on,
. . . a recovery advocate (and the son of the journalist Bill Moyers) who for 12 years has been free of crack and alcohol, was invited to speak at the M.I.T. conference. In a room full of scientists and addiction researchers obsessed with the intricacies of the human brain, Moyers read a lecture that reminded them that treating addiction might be even more complicated than they thought.
"I have an illness with origins in the brain. . .but I also suffered with the other component of this illness," he told the gathered researchers and scientists, some of whom dutifully took notes. "I was born with what I like to call a hole in my soul.. . .A pain that came from the reality that I just wasn't good enough. That I wasn't deserving enough. That you weren't paying attention to me all the time. That maybe you didn't like me enough."
The conference room was as quiet as it had been all day. "For us addicts," he continued, "recovery is more than just taking a pill or maybe getting a shot.. . .Recovery is also about the spirit, about dealing with that hole in the soul."
In his paraphrase of Blaise Pascal, "There is a God-shaped vacuum in every heart," Moyers summarizes the problem and the need. Sin has infected every person so that whether someone manifests an addiction and another has an overt anger problem, we are all sinners. We are all unsatisfied sinners. The only full satisfaction and joy that will gratify my every longing and want is the Creator. The first need that everyone must resolve is the sin problem. We have the Gospel, and it does transform people and their desires by offering to fill exactly what is wanted.
Resource - The Picower Institute for Learning and Memory at MIT
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