Addiction

Addiction
The blanket
That is so comfortable
I pull it tighter
and tighter
and breathe it in
Instead of air.

I watched Celebrity Rehab today and was once again amazed at the phenomenon we know as addiction. This subject is one of the big reasons I have chosen my major (neuroscience) and with the limited knowledge I have gained on this subject, I have also gained remarkable appreciation for the Goliath it is. I watched proud, unstoppable rock stars cry like babies because they could not understand why they couldn't have just one more hit. In parallel, in class I watched a video of a rat that was operantly conditioned to hit a lever that was attached to an electrode which would electrically stimulate its dopamine reward system (the system involved in most addictions) in its brain over and over again, ignoring its food and water needs, until it would collapse from exhaustion. How different are the two addicts really? The answer of course is "very different" as the rock star has the dissappointment, the guilt, and the emotional pain that comes with evolution's contribution of a disproportionately large frontal lobe. Indeed, this just might be the area that is most damaged by addiction (according to new research) which shows cocaine addicts exhibiting cortical degeneration in the frontal cortex, the very area of the brain responsible for helping man overcome his base, animal drives in order to satisfy higher motivations (the desire to be "good" and spiritually fulfilled). This finding is monumental but not surprising. It appears to be the physiological representation of the well-known spiritual phenomenon of giving into the natural man and losing the ability to put it off again. The problem that I have with those who see this as justice, however, is that for most addicts, the punishment doesn't really seem to fit the crime. Many are addicted as children, before their reasoning and even spiritual accountability has fully matured. Many others are made susceptible to addiction by events in their lives beyond their control. Still others make foolish adolescent mistakes as all of us do, knowing that what they're doing is bad, but not really caring, and their punishment just happens to include a lifelong enslavement to addiction while mine required one week of no TV. We must be more compassionate to those battling addictions. While science may not have found the molecule involved in applying the atonement in our lives to overcome addiction yet, this certainly is the only way addiction is ever overcome. Thank God, for his son and his offering of a second chance. Our mistakes are not only written in on our book of Life, they are their in our brain physiology and chemicals, and only Christ can rewire our bad connections. What good we can do as we reach out and help those making their way along the path to recovery.