Excellent insight into addiction. I'll have to read it again because it often takes me longer than others to process complex information. I'm currently reading two of C. Jung’s essays on analytical psychology and must read each page twice, sometimes thrice. Worth it.
I recently hit five years clean and can relate to everything you said. I'm a new subscriber and look forward to rifling through the archive and forthcoming posts. I love your work.
I just started my newsletter here, and it’s been a rocky start, mostly incomplete thoughts. You might enjoy my first post. It’s about my early sobriety and discovering misconceptions of selfhood.
Corey, congrats on 5 years, such an important milestone! And props on starting your newsletter. Just read your piece and dug it. Please keep writing and sharing
Funny story: last week, I thought of giving up on Substack because it takes a lot of time to build up, and I didn't feel I could conjure ideas enough to write valuable essays and keep people interested and wanting to read more and subscribe, yadayada. Then I went to Substack’s office hours and had many great conversations. I read different newsletters and talked to more people. I gained a bunch of subscribers without writing anything new. To top it off, I found your ‘stack. It’s been a great week. And I have an idea for my forthcoming newsletter. The research is underway. Needless to say, I am not leaving.
I am looking forward to seeing what you write next.
Congratulation on five years! I too am a recovering addict and I followed you. We need to support each other and get the word out on how we managed to get free from the beast.
Love the systems thinking / parasitic view. Very useful. Changing plans for 2023 holidays now. Heading to super dope rat theme park instead. Thanks Alex!
Awesome piece and so much truth in it. As a substance abuse counselor who’s also been sober 15 years, it’s easy to teach about triggers, cravings, etc. It’s not so easy to help people address the psychosocial challenges that are at the root of addiction.
Beautiful piece. Thank you! It feels like *agency* bit is crucial in that graph -- it takes a lot of courage to break out of the continuous addiction reinforcement loop, especially when the systems are engineered to only loop you in. For example, TikTok was heavily engineered to keep users in the app for their monetary/engagement sakes and here a user often doesn't even feel like they have an agency to change it (a user cannot even change the topics of tiktoks he is shown so his available actions to stop the addiction are completely cutting off TikTok which requires a heavy load of self-determination and control).
The agency bit is the trickiest part. TikTok is essentially a drug dealer with an extremely sketchy reputation who sells a safer, better product to its people in China. We get the free market version without limits or caps on what our youth consume, while in China, they serve their youth more STEM and educational content and place consumption limit on it. And now Meta and YouTube have deployed their reel products to compete with it, and those also won't have limits. So, to your point, it's a completely effed "arena" problem. And thank you so much, Svitlana
Incredible stuff. As a former person severely addicted to cocaine and alcohol, now turned counsellor, it is always a beautiful thing to see this pivot from individual lack of will, to a societal, multi-faceted approach to healing.
Looking forward to following your journey down this path, and to see the intersections where my research takes me. 🙏
I know that mix well - found out later that alcohol and coke bond together to form a compound addictive in itself. Congrats on turning your life around and now helping others. That's what it's all about. Thank you, Mark.
Could you recommend anything I could read on the alcohol / coke combo? I’ve a friend who’s having trouble with that particular selection, and I’ve wondered if the combination is part of what’s making his recovery more difficult.
I'm new to substack and this is the 1st piece of your work that I've read and I bloody loved it. As the daughter of an alcoholic and gambler, I've had an interest in addition psychology and this piece was brilliant!
Medha, you just made my day, especially glad to hear it potentially helped you understand your father, those entanglements can be so complex. Thank you
Great article, you excellently summarized many of the different facets and perspectives on addiction. I like the Vietnam case study as it shows there is a relationship between addiction and one's environment. I would check out the Rat Park experiment, as it shows the same insight in an animal. Biology does account some component of addiction with differences seen in neural pathways between those have addictions vs don't. I think it's less of a factor than the person's sense of meaning, environment, social relationships, trauma, and stress levels. I think if we find a way to tackle these factors clinically then relapse rates will be much lower than those of the current offerings.
Psychotechnology is such a powerful technique for lasting sobriety. After I changed my underlying beliefs and assumptions to a more supportive posture, I experienced a profound liberation from the ties that bound me to escapism as a learned behavior. This article is incredibly informative. Thanks for sharing!
In Alcoholics Anonymous, they lean heavily on the disease model. In my experience, being a low-bottom addict, I see trauma as the culprit.
Deep in thought, she replayed her fall down the ladder, through the various rungs of the Underworld, and wondered why her descent invariably led to the very bottom. Other addicts could turn their lives around well before it got out of hand. She had splattered on the basement floor of hell not just once, but twice.
How was it possible that she never saw it coming? Was it because she remembered that first rung with a deceptive euphoria and affection?
She contemplated her early days using heroin. In her imagination, it had the feel and appearance of the most amazing rave on earth. Vibrant strobe lights bouncing off mirrored walls, traveling through crystalline sculptures; a spectrum of colors that shot out in every direction, illuminating all the gods and goddesses on the dance floor. It was reminiscent of what Studio 54 must have been like back in the day. She felt the beat of the music as it vibrated through bodies swaying like an enormous herd of exotic animals. It was a state of utter bliss and unadulterated ecstasy.
Not unlike the first, the second rung exuded pleasurable sensations, but an imperceptible sooty haze dimmed the dazzling lights. The rhythm of the dancers seemed off, disjointed, just a wee bit, here and there. The music had developed a jarring, dissonant edge that was difficult to discern. People seemed to enjoy themselves but, upon close examination, it was obvious they were going through the motions to ignore their mounting distress.
By the third rung, everyone was out for themselves. A perverse edginess replaced the previous euphoria, and a growing sense of desperation filled the atmosphere. As she continued her descent, each rung became more unpleasant than the last until she landed, in a heap, on the basement floor. There she wallowed in pain, imprisoned in a windowless dungeon, alone with her thoughts; besieged by self-condemning voices that pummeled her night and day.
She wondered if an individual’s bottom correlated to the depth of their trauma.
“If there’s one thing in common across all process-oriented recovery programs from the 12 Steps to Buddhist based to more modern versions—it’s community. Those prone to addiction are sensitive beings who often feel an acute sense of outsider-ness and alienation from the culture. Recovery requires truth, love, and a warm welcome that tells a newcomer’s nervous system: you’re right where you need to be.”
Excellent insight into addiction. I'll have to read it again because it often takes me longer than others to process complex information. I'm currently reading two of C. Jung’s essays on analytical psychology and must read each page twice, sometimes thrice. Worth it.
I recently hit five years clean and can relate to everything you said. I'm a new subscriber and look forward to rifling through the archive and forthcoming posts. I love your work.
I just started my newsletter here, and it’s been a rocky start, mostly incomplete thoughts. You might enjoy my first post. It’s about my early sobriety and discovering misconceptions of selfhood.
Check it—or don't. My feelings won't be hurt.
https://open.substack.com/pub/coreyswords/p/the-act?utm_source=direct&r=1s99nq&utm_campaign=post&utm_medium=web
Corey, congrats on 5 years, such an important milestone! And props on starting your newsletter. Just read your piece and dug it. Please keep writing and sharing
Thank you, Alex. And thanks for reading it.
Funny story: last week, I thought of giving up on Substack because it takes a lot of time to build up, and I didn't feel I could conjure ideas enough to write valuable essays and keep people interested and wanting to read more and subscribe, yadayada. Then I went to Substack’s office hours and had many great conversations. I read different newsletters and talked to more people. I gained a bunch of subscribers without writing anything new. To top it off, I found your ‘stack. It’s been a great week. And I have an idea for my forthcoming newsletter. The research is underway. Needless to say, I am not leaving.
I am looking forward to seeing what you write next.
Awesome. Keep writing Corey.
Congratulation on five years! I too am a recovering addict and I followed you. We need to support each other and get the word out on how we managed to get free from the beast.
Yes. Jung can be challenging.
Love the systems thinking / parasitic view. Very useful. Changing plans for 2023 holidays now. Heading to super dope rat theme park instead. Thanks Alex!
See you at the rat park shortly, meet me at the waterslide
Awesome piece and so much truth in it. As a substance abuse counselor who’s also been sober 15 years, it’s easy to teach about triggers, cravings, etc. It’s not so easy to help people address the psychosocial challenges that are at the root of addiction.
Tamera, thank you for this and for the work that you do
Beautiful piece. Thank you! It feels like *agency* bit is crucial in that graph -- it takes a lot of courage to break out of the continuous addiction reinforcement loop, especially when the systems are engineered to only loop you in. For example, TikTok was heavily engineered to keep users in the app for their monetary/engagement sakes and here a user often doesn't even feel like they have an agency to change it (a user cannot even change the topics of tiktoks he is shown so his available actions to stop the addiction are completely cutting off TikTok which requires a heavy load of self-determination and control).
The agency bit is the trickiest part. TikTok is essentially a drug dealer with an extremely sketchy reputation who sells a safer, better product to its people in China. We get the free market version without limits or caps on what our youth consume, while in China, they serve their youth more STEM and educational content and place consumption limit on it. And now Meta and YouTube have deployed their reel products to compete with it, and those also won't have limits. So, to your point, it's a completely effed "arena" problem. And thank you so much, Svitlana
This point is so important. Love your sub 🌟
Incredible stuff. As a former person severely addicted to cocaine and alcohol, now turned counsellor, it is always a beautiful thing to see this pivot from individual lack of will, to a societal, multi-faceted approach to healing.
Looking forward to following your journey down this path, and to see the intersections where my research takes me. 🙏
I know that mix well - found out later that alcohol and coke bond together to form a compound addictive in itself. Congrats on turning your life around and now helping others. That's what it's all about. Thank you, Mark.
Could you recommend anything I could read on the alcohol / coke combo? I’ve a friend who’s having trouble with that particular selection, and I’ve wondered if the combination is part of what’s making his recovery more difficult.
The binding combo is called "cocaethylene." This is prob a good starting point: https://americanaddictioncenters.org/alcoholism-treatment/mixing-cocaine-and-alcohol
Perfect, thanks so much!
Yes. Agree. 100 💯
I'm new to substack and this is the 1st piece of your work that I've read and I bloody loved it. As the daughter of an alcoholic and gambler, I've had an interest in addition psychology and this piece was brilliant!
Medha, you just made my day, especially glad to hear it potentially helped you understand your father, those entanglements can be so complex. Thank you
My pleasure. And It was my mum 🙂
Now that's what they call a Freudian slip on my part, ha
Brilliant!
Deep bow, Nicola!
Gah so helpful and ....smoothing out the bumps in all these processes/ worlds.
Yay :) and I know, sometimes all the different theories can be overwhelming
Alex’s perspective makes sense. I intend to look deeper based on his research. Enlightening.
Great work Alex!
Thanks so much Charles
Great article, you excellently summarized many of the different facets and perspectives on addiction. I like the Vietnam case study as it shows there is a relationship between addiction and one's environment. I would check out the Rat Park experiment, as it shows the same insight in an animal. Biology does account some component of addiction with differences seen in neural pathways between those have addictions vs don't. I think it's less of a factor than the person's sense of meaning, environment, social relationships, trauma, and stress levels. I think if we find a way to tackle these factors clinically then relapse rates will be much lower than those of the current offerings.
Thanks so much, Grant, and yes - I cite the Rat Park in the footnote :)
This is my favorite piece you've ever written. Well done!
Dang, Kristin, this is awesome news, thank you (!)
Psychotechnology is such a powerful technique for lasting sobriety. After I changed my underlying beliefs and assumptions to a more supportive posture, I experienced a profound liberation from the ties that bound me to escapism as a learned behavior. This article is incredibly informative. Thanks for sharing!
Ooohhh I like this phrase "escapism as learned behavior." Thank you, Chandni
In Alcoholics Anonymous, they lean heavily on the disease model. In my experience, being a low-bottom addict, I see trauma as the culprit.
Deep in thought, she replayed her fall down the ladder, through the various rungs of the Underworld, and wondered why her descent invariably led to the very bottom. Other addicts could turn their lives around well before it got out of hand. She had splattered on the basement floor of hell not just once, but twice.
How was it possible that she never saw it coming? Was it because she remembered that first rung with a deceptive euphoria and affection?
She contemplated her early days using heroin. In her imagination, it had the feel and appearance of the most amazing rave on earth. Vibrant strobe lights bouncing off mirrored walls, traveling through crystalline sculptures; a spectrum of colors that shot out in every direction, illuminating all the gods and goddesses on the dance floor. It was reminiscent of what Studio 54 must have been like back in the day. She felt the beat of the music as it vibrated through bodies swaying like an enormous herd of exotic animals. It was a state of utter bliss and unadulterated ecstasy.
Not unlike the first, the second rung exuded pleasurable sensations, but an imperceptible sooty haze dimmed the dazzling lights. The rhythm of the dancers seemed off, disjointed, just a wee bit, here and there. The music had developed a jarring, dissonant edge that was difficult to discern. People seemed to enjoy themselves but, upon close examination, it was obvious they were going through the motions to ignore their mounting distress.
By the third rung, everyone was out for themselves. A perverse edginess replaced the previous euphoria, and a growing sense of desperation filled the atmosphere. As she continued her descent, each rung became more unpleasant than the last until she landed, in a heap, on the basement floor. There she wallowed in pain, imprisoned in a windowless dungeon, alone with her thoughts; besieged by self-condemning voices that pummeled her night and day.
She wondered if an individual’s bottom correlated to the depth of their trauma.
Love Johann Hari’s stuff. All of it.
“If there’s one thing in common across all process-oriented recovery programs from the 12 Steps to Buddhist based to more modern versions—it’s community. Those prone to addiction are sensitive beings who often feel an acute sense of outsider-ness and alienation from the culture. Recovery requires truth, love, and a warm welcome that tells a newcomer’s nervous system: you’re right where you need to be.”
Boom. Absolutely. A hundred percent 💯. I’m 12.5 years sober. Nailed it. I write about this on my stack: https://michaelmohr.substack.com/p/sobriety-and-wokeism-are-diametrically
Michael Mohr
‘Sincere American Writing’
https://michaelmohr.substack.com/