The Role of Will in Addiction and Recovery

Brain research is changing erroneous beliefs about alcoholism and drug addiction. Moralistic beliefs that alcoholics and addicts are weak-willed sinful people are slowly being replaced with the truth: anyone with a brain can become addicted.

Even people who occasionally over-indulge in any mood-altering chemical know at some level that the brain is involved in the activity. The next morning with splitting headaches and queasy stomachs they joke about killing hundreds or thousands of brain cells as they slug down a soft drink to replenish their dehydrated bodies.

Killing brain cells, however, is not a laughing matter. If brain cells were simply killed and sloughed off into the blood stream to be carried away after a night of hard drinking or doing a so-called recreational drug, perhaps the brain would not be hijacked into the bondage of addiction. This is not the case. The remaining brain cells begin the process of adaptation that will result in addiction, if the alcohol or drug abuse is continued. This process of adapting to the chemical changes brought about by the use of alcohol or other drugs literally changes the structure and functions of the brain. Over time, continued alcohol or drug abuse results in the brain being helplessly hijacked into the bondage of addiction. And with cases of some drugs, such as methamphetamine, only one time use can result in addiction.

The brain cells that are killed by alcohol or drug abuse may be the lucky ones. The remaining brain cells are left to adapt to the chaotic chemistry left in the wake of a night on the town. These bewildered brain cells flounder in a maze of confused misfiring miscommunication. Brain research shows the remaining cells are in more trouble than Chicago’s O’Hare Airport would be with one thousand planes attempting to land as two thousand planes are trying to lift off during a tornado, a blizzard, a hurricane and earthquake rating a 9.5 on the Richter Scale! This description may sound like an exaggeration, but, it is not an overstatement of the confusion, disorientation, bewilderment, and overwhelming internal stress that the brain goes through in its efforts to accommodate, function, adapt to, and live with the onslaught of addictive drugs. The alcohol or drug abuser describes this agitated, confused state as “fun.” It feels good.

Of course it feels good. If there were no positive payoff for abusing mood-altering substances, no one would abuse them. The same holds true for such essential activities as eating or having sex. If we do not get pleasure from eating, we will not eat. If we do not eat, as individuals and as a species we will die. If having sex does not feel good, we will not be sexually active. If we are not sexually active, we will cease to exist as a species. Eating and sexual activity are the basis of survival. It is the will of our being, the will to be, that causes us to eat and reproduce. Nature or God, as you prefer, links survival will, the will to be, with pleasure to guarantee survival and perpetuation of our species.

Mood altering chemicals activate the pleasure circuit or reward system of the brain just as any pleasurable activity does. However, there is an important difference between what occurs in the brain as a result of using mood-altering chemicals versus laughing at Lucille Ball re-runs or quivering with a burn from working out at the gym. The important difference is that mood-altering chemicals increase the concentration of dopamine, a feel-good brain chemical, more intensely than any other activity in which we engage. As the brain attempts to compensate for this increase of dopamine activity, the dopamine receptors are reduced. This leads to increased tolerance for the drug, which means more of the drug is required to get the desired high, and it also means trying stronger or different drugs to get the desired effects. Additionally, a condition called chronic dysphoria can set in; simple life-pleasures such as taking a walk, watching a good movie, or eating a good meal have little appeal.

The repeated roller-coaster effect of intensely high levels of dopamine, along with many other chemical changes within the brain while under the influence, and later when the drug is withdrawn and the brain attempts to return to normal, causes the structure of the brain and its functions to begin to change. The mood-altering substance fools the brain into accepting it as essential to survival. The mood-altering substance becomes equated with survival just as eating is equated with survival. At this stage of addiction, willpower is incapable of arresting the addiction. The power to choose not to use is gone. The brain, along with the will, is hijacked and hoodwinked into accepting the mood-altering chemical as absolutely essential to survival...even more necessary to survival than eating or reproducing because the pleasure imprint made by the mood-altering substance is many times greater than the pleasure associated with food or sex. The mood-altering substance has fooled the pleasure circuit of the brain into seeking a substance that ultimately will destroy the user.

The reasoning, judging, logical part of the brain has long ago been enlisted in the service of the powerful, survival-based pleasure circuit. Denial, manipulation, conning, lying, distorted perceptions, suspicions and blaming, have totally and completely seduced and warped reason, judgment, common sense and logic into addiction-serving deceptions. Higher qualities of what it means to be a decent human being...love of family, honesty in the workplace and at home, goodwill toward others...are lost in an emotional abyss of self-pity, depression, anger, rage, jealousy, and shame.

We can observe the outer deterioration of a person in the torment of addiction. If we are married to an addict, or if one of our children is addicted, or if we grew up with an addicted parent, or even if one of our parents grew up with an addict, yet did not become an addict, we can observe the outer effects of addiction.

What about the inner deterioration of the brain? Literally, the structure of the brain is changed by addiction. A brain diseased with alcoholism is lighter and smaller than a normal brain. The addicted brain, rather than having a healthy, smooth exterior surface, resembles a wrinkled, pocked, aged raisin. The brain of long-term marijuana smokers also shrinks in size and develops holes. Methamphetamine use can cause brain cells to literally self-destruct. The process is called aptosis.