Addiction, whether to substances like alcohol, cocaine, or methamphetamine or behaviours and processes like gaming, gambling, and sex, affects over 40 million people in the USA alone. No universal medication, subscription, or prescription works for everyone, and everybody faces a unique struggle.
Addiction doesn’t discriminate—it can bring anyone down. What’s worse is when someone knows they are suffering from the disease and can’t stop. A lot of the time, losing and numbing the internal discomfort feels so good that it perpetuates the cycle. If you can’t relate to severe substance abuse or behavioural addictions, you probably can agree that there is a difference between self-knowledge and actual change. Change is hard, even when you know it’s a must.
At its core, addiction is a battle within the brain’s pleasure system. It’s the relentless pursuit of pleasure, and in this article, we’ll talk about the neurochemistry of addiction and focus on one piece of the puzzle that many people who do recover from the disease share in common—finding spirituality and adopting mindfulness, self-love and acceptance into their daily lives.
Understanding What Happens In Addiction
I don’t think anyone fully understands addiction. However, knowledge and literature are growing, thanks to ancient traditions and modern science.
Addiction involves levels of dopamine, among other things, like our body’s opioid and endocannabinoid systems. These systems are responsible for managing pain, regulating mood, processing rewards, and contributing to the development of addiction.
Andrew Huberman, Ph.D., is a neuroscientist and professor who defines addiction as “Any behaviour that leverages the dopamine system but that engages in the progressive narrowing of the things that bring someone pleasure.” This means that nothing else pulls or motivates an individual in the way that gambling, pornography, and alcohol do.
Huberman explains that with substances like cocaine, dopamine will peak immediately. So, the gap between stimuli (the drug) and reward—dopamine, energy, and euphoria is very short. The systems in the body start to want and expect this hyper-short dopamine delivery circuit.
Unfortunately, the higher and faster the peak rises, the further and deeper below its starting point, or baseline, it will plummet. The worst part—dropping below baseline triggers the desire and pursuit of more.
Can Mindfulness Help With Addiction Recovery In The Same Way It Can With Stress And Pain?
While mindfulness finds its roots in ancient traditions, its interweaved into Western modern therapies and science presenting an opportunity in the new era of addiction treatment.
Since addiction involves automatic behaviours driven by changes in the brain’s pleasure systems, mindfulness, which helps us control our thoughts, impulses and habits, might be useful for managing it.
By cultivating awareness and acceptance, mindfulness empowers individuals to navigate cravings and emotional turmoil with resilience and grace. But how does it work in practice?
4 Mindfulness Techniques Used To Treat Addiction
In Alcoholics Anonymous (AA) and Narcotics Anonymous (NA), mindfulness is taught in early recovery programs and focuses on practical approaches to mindfulness.
- Awareness meditation: By regularly practicing awareness meditation, individuals can become more attuned to the triggers and underlying emotions that drive their addictive behaviours.
- Breathwork: By learning to control their breath, individuals can reduce feelings of panic and overwhelm, making it easier to relax and be comfortable in their current state of mind.
- Loving-kindness meditation: This practice can help individuals in addiction recovery build a positive self-image and develop a sense of self-worth, which is often damaged by addiction.
- Body scan: This practice helps individuals develop a deeper connection with their bodies and become more aware of the physical manifestations of stress and cravings. By regularly practicing body scan meditation, individuals can identify areas of tension or discomfort that may be linked to their addiction and learn to release this tension in a healthy way.
Mindfulness, meditation, breath and movement techniques help manage the waves of cravings and confront the underlying triggers of addiction.
Mindfulness Programs To Help Treat Addiction And Break Bad Habits
Dr. Jud Brewer, MD, Ph.D. is a New York Times best-selling author and thought leader in the field of habit change and the “science of self-mastery.” He’s helped develop programs like; Eat Right Now, Unwinding Anxiety, and Craving To Quit, to leverage mindfulness practices to address the root causes of many addictive behaviors.
One effective example is Dr. Jud’s mindfulness-based program, Craving To Quit. This program offers bite-sized daily modules designed to promote consistency with just ten minutes of training daily. Participants learn about the mind’s workings, the habit loop, and the triggers that prompt smoking. A key technique involves decreasing the reward value of smoking by constantly questioning what they get from it.
Believe it or not, mindful smoking is a thing. When a craving arises, users engage in a mindful exercise where they imagine smoking, focusing on the taste, smell, and physical sensations. This process helps them gauge their disenchantment with smoking, leading their bodies to question the habit’s worth.
This practice of mindfulness becomes applicable in nearly every situation in life. By cultivating attention and awareness, individuals connect the dots and apply their learning to various circumstances. There are numerous apps to help people meditate and practice mindfulness, but Dr. Brewer’s programs stand out by helping users understand how their minds work. He emphasizes a strong learning process as the foundation for these programs.
The Promise Of Mindfulness In Addiction Recovery
In conclusion, mindfulness practices offer a powerful approach to overcoming addiction. Awareness meditation, breathwork, loving-kindness meditation, and body scans help individuals manage cravings and emotional triggers by fostering non-judgmental awareness and acceptance.
Programs by experts like Dr. Jud Brewer demonstrate the practical effectiveness of these techniques, promoting consistency and reducing the reward value of addictive behaviors. As ancient traditions and modern science converge, mindfulness emerges as a vital tool in the fight against addiction, supporting long-term recovery with resilience and wisdom.
