A look at some different aspects of addiction in the modern world this week: is Celebrity Rehab yet another addictive reality-TV show? Is it actually causing harm, and not promoting a positive view of treatment? Gamers, it seem, have larger reward hubs in their frontal cortex – expanding the dopamine pathway, and causing us to ask if their brain is genetics wired differently, or is it acquired through the play? Revisiting a study from a few years ago on how once rats get addicted to junk food, they will die rather than switch back to a healthy diet. And a new name for our latest set of addictions: digital attention disorder.
Click here to play podcast
Transcript (edited):
HOWARD: Welcome to the CNS Podcast featuring Dr. Darryl Inaba, research director for CNS Productions, I am Howard La Mere. One of the things I want to talk about today – early addiction to technology, how games in particular, video games, start driving the whole process of addiction at a very early age. There was also an interesting story about being addicted to junk food, there was a study using on rats, and how potent junk food addiction can be. Also about gaming gamers it turns out have bigger reward hubs in their brain which leads to a larger access route for dopamine. So the question is – do these people have different wiring or does this compulsion come about as a result of the activity? Let’s start with a story from Salon Magazine, asking the question is it time for Dr. Drew to pull the plug on celebrity rehab? We talk a lot about the importance of treatment and getting the word out about it and how to bring it more into the discussion of whats important. And the question that this article asks is — is it really valuable in that context? Or is it simply yet another manifestation of reality TV?
DARRYL: Howard, those are a wide range of articles on a wide range of subjects regarding addiction and technology all of which we have talked about before. But we need to revisit some of those things as they become of greater and greater interest and have more of an impact to the greater society around us. The celebrity thing is that people are calling for the shut down or pulling the plug on Dr. Drew its not Dr. Drew pulling the plug on himself! Of course, he wont do that, I don’t think.
HOWARD: Not too likely, I dont think.
DARRYL: But its the rest of society saying the show is really exploitive. The shows primary priority is to attract as many viewers as possible and be entertaining. The more gross it becomes and the more spectacular ways they show people in deep trouble, the more the audience grows and the more popular the program. And so, the priorities are in the wrong place – we need to really show that addiction is a true pathology. Its a true chronic persistent disorder. Its a real struggle for the people who are in recovery and maybe this show is just making it entertainment rather than the chronic disease that it is.
HOWARD: Well the story leads with the news that one of the members of the 3rd year cast, a rock and roll drummer died recently of an overdose. And you know, we obviously can’t blame and shut down every treatment center that is involved in a person relapsing and dying, but.but there is it does bring up that question about celebrities — celebrity narcissism is one of the terms tossed about, and ringers here and again, how much is this reality TV versus really addressing the topic?
DARRYL: Thats an important issue to bring up and we certainly mention it all the time in treatment that addiction is a fatal condition. If you don’t address it, you don’t accept it, you don’t do anything about it, it will kill you. And we have numerous examples of that every year in treatment – just like Dr. Drew one of his celebrities intervenees or one of the celebrities they interacted with actually died from their addiction. Its important for all addicts to come to the realization that this is a fatal condition that needs attention. When addicts are in the midst of their addiction, they oftentimes feel that they’re immune that they’re not the one who is going to die. And every year addiction kills literally thousands of people and we need to make that clear to people involved with it. Just nicotine alone is responsible for 440,000 deaths every year and people who are addicted to nicotine deny it. They don’t think its a real issue and in the treatment field and even on the Dr. Drew show, it must be shown as an outcome of addiction. Incarceration is an outcome of addiction, a ruined life is an outcome of addiction, and certainly death is a true outcome and we need to make that more clear. So, I think the Dr. Drew show missed an opportunity there that they might have really played that up a lot more and dealt with the tragedy.
HOWARD: This is really interesting story even though it’s a little dated – about intentionally addicting rats to junk food. They enjoyed it so much – dopamine is largely involved – and become so addicted that they would rather eat junk than healthy food and they end up dying.
DARRYL: I like that article – the research was actually done in 2010, mid 2010, and I like that because as we move towards a redefinition of addiction and see the inclusion of process addictions like gambling into the new Diagnostic Manual, the DSM5 due out in May of this year. Food/eating disorders compulsive overeating, binge eating disorders, and the like are not going to be classified as addiction, but as a separate entity. But like internet addiction there is a growing body of evidence gathered through brain imaging and other biological testing that show food addiction is like cocaine addiction. It is like meth addiction and in a society that promotes unhealthy, high caloric, high fat, high salt food with very little nutrition value, but yet has the ability to addict somebody. And what the research did, I thought was real amazing, it was done in Florida — they allowed rats access to all of the worst junk food you can imagine, allowed them to eat nothing but bacon, nothing but sausage, nothing but Ding Dongs, nothing but frosting from a cake, cheesecake, just all the nasty high carbohydrate, high sugar, high fat, high salt foods imaginable.
HOWARD: Kind of tasty though!
DARRYL: And it was so tasty that the rats became dependent upon it very quick and then when they tried to introduce healthy food, the rats avoided eating any of it, demanding pretty much all the junk food. Researchers also employed the technique from the 1950s, mid 1950s, where the animals suffered an electrical adverse shock in order to gain access to their junk food. The rats were willing to suffer any kind of consequence and pain in order to have access to the junk food. And the most amazing part of the research done in 2010 was that when the rats were given only some good fruit, good vegetables, good protein, healthy food – and that is all they were given – the rats starved themselves to death. They refused to eat healthy food – they were too strung out on the junk food – talk about the pathways in the brain. Of course, rats have that very primitive mammalian brain, the mesocortex, which is only part of the brain system that is the location of the reward, the dopaminergic center, the dopaminergic hub, the go-switch that makes them want more and more, they have very little of the control part of the brain that humans do. That is the area – that when it functions correctly – can help to control that go-switch. So once the rats were addicted to junk food, nothing stopped them from just wanting junk food. And I thought that was fascinating.
HOWARD: Yes, they didn’t have a feedback mechanism like clothes that don’t fit anymore, or peer pressure, or reality TV shows to watch.
DARRYL: Well actually, even if they did, Howard, in terms of addiction if you’re prone to addiction, it doesn’t matter. If you are addicted to binge eating or a chronic overeating disorder, you don’t care if you weigh three or four hundred pounds and have to sleep sitting up because if you lay down the weight of your chest will shut down your heart and shut down your lungs and you suffer many indignities – thats not going to stop you from eating pizzas and Ding Dongs and frosting and chocolate cakes and all the other stuff that you crave.
HOWARD: And this other list that I have here.5 habits that are really addictions pop music is listed as #1, saying that now scientists can predict a pop hit by taking a MRI and watching the pleasure centers light up when the melodies of these unreleased songs come on. I thought that was just fascinating. And also on the list is salty snacks. So
DARRYL: All the things we love, Howard!
HOWARD: But I like to put pop music in there too! I thought that was fun!
DARRYL: Well, its interesting, Howard, that one treatment for addiction ever since the 60s and 70s ..is music therapy because of the ability harmonic sounds have to activate those centers in your brain that are affected by addiction and to help normalize the activity in those centers of the brain. So, if you can do that in a curative way, I’m sure there is potential in the opposite direction and create an addiction to certain types of melodic sounds so it doesn’t surprise me that pop music is listed. Certainly salty foods and sugary foods and high carb foods – we know from the research about that … one thing that is missing from that list though that I have noted within family groups and friends is tattooing. I think tattooing is a form of addiction. Once you get that first tattoo, there seems to be a craving for another one, and another one, and another one. And maybe its the little subtle endorphin stimulation process that you undergo while you’re getting a tattoo – little pricks going into your skin activate some pain or maybe its vanity I don’t know what it is, but even people who are seemingly the most conservative people in the world not into body ornamentation not into demonstrating how tough or how beautiful they are once they do a tattoo, they want more and more and crave more and are willing to spend a lot of money for it. Unfortunately for gangbangers, they get gangbang tattoos and once they realize how dangerous that signal is, they have to spend a lot of money to get the tattoo removed.
HOWARD: Thats what I’ve said tattoo removal is definitely a growth industry. Also on the list here, just in passing tanning.speaking of endorphins, and lip balm. So beware of that lip balm because it really is addictive and it dries your lips out which makes you come back for more.
DARRYL: Howard, we make light of that list and we make light when other people say, well gee, everything is addictive – how silly is that. I think it misses the point that the reality is – were talking about pathology here. Were talking about abnormal participation in activities like eating or tattooing or lip balming or pop music. Were talking about pathological involvement. Including addiction to the internet – gaming of course is big, and there’s even a new disorder — I love psychiatrists — they come up with new disorders all the time…. something called digital attention disorder which is addiction to social networks and computers in general. And I know that that is a reality and that we do this. Everyone uses the internet a little bit. We do Facebook maybe. We do email for sure. But when it is a pathology, it is being done compulsivity – with an obsession that excludes any other activities in life. If a person has a gambling disorder, they are not simply having fun while gambling, they are putting themselves in great debt, possibly stealing, embezzling, fraud — some even sell body parts to get the money to gamble and thats pathological. Well in this age of technology growth internet addiction is a curious feature. Technology is growing by leaps and bounds and has become a major part of human life. There are even homeless people who have cell phones. I don’t know how they get them or where they get the money to maintain the service, but they value having that over having a roof over their heads or a square meal every day. There are people who are so into their computers that when we image their brain, it looks like they’re on drugs. You cant tear them away from their games or their activities on the internet. I just read a story about Jed York, the owner of the San Francisco 49ers now. He is the youngest owner in the NFL he inherited the team from his uncle. Because he is so young (33) he is very savvy about technology…. older owners are playing catch-up when it comes to the internet and smart phones …he is the new age and a new breed of what football owners are going to look like. During the game that they won the NFC championship, he was tweeting in his booth and he got involved. Now he has 38,000 fans on that one day who are now his tweet mates (followers) and are hungry for his tweets. Of course, tweeting itself is not an addiction, but if it becomes pathological and thats all you do is tweet all day long and you’re not participating in the conversation at dinner you’re not watching your own team play football, you’re not doing the things that you normally do because you are paying more attention to the twitter world – then it becomes a pathology. And so, it is a fine line, but I do believe there is true internet addiction. I do think there is a digital attention disorder and I think it is something that were going to need to really define and make people aware so that they don’t overlook the other important parts of their life.
HOWARD: Well, I really like that football comment and because we are coming right up on the Superbowl, I think that is apropo. Well just leave it there. Thanks for listening. Your comments, questions, suggestions are always welcome. Drop by the website, cnsproductions.com and leave us a note. Thanks Darryl.
DARRYL: Thank you, Howard.
HOWARD: That wraps our pod for today. Please check back soon for the next in the series and visit our website, HYPERLINK
“http://www.cnsproductions.com” www.cnsproductions.com