The Craving Mind
Mindfulness and awareness have been the key to my success in staying Addy Free, and I didn’t even know it. After all, I’m not a professional in the subject. I’m just a girl who conquered an Adderall addiction and wants to share the message that mindfulness and awareness helped me beat cravings and can help you too.
I wanted to find someone with an acronym behind his/her name that could back up the importance of utilizing mindfulness when it comes to combatting cravings. After doing some research I came across the perfect book: The Craving Mind by Judson Brewer, an American psychiatrist, neuroscientist, and author (I’d say that’s a pretty credible source). In the book, Brewer explores the science and psychology behind cravings and offers practical insights on how to break free from them using mindfulness and awareness.
Why should I trust this book?
Knowing that this book talks about all sorts of cravings but doesn’t mention Adderall, in particular, might make you skeptical about believing it has anything to do with you and your particular addiction. After all, how does a smartphone even compare to meth (which is what Adderall is)…
I was just as skeptical at rehab when all of our guidance to quit our addictions was coming from the “Big Book”, the central approach to alcoholism; after all, I’m not, and have never been, an “alcoholic.” It turns out that there were more patients in the rehab I attended just like me who were there, not as alcoholics per se, but as people who all shared one thing in common: a destructive and sometimes life-threatening addictive habit that had become unmanageable in their daily lives.
This understanding that one person’s addiction doesn’t make them different than anyone else is what this book is all about.
Now this is when things can get controversial…
Having been to rehab, I know how explaining addiction in this simplistic, bordering on insensitive way can be considered controversial. If I had heard that my life-altering addiction to Adderall was just like my boyfriend's love of late-night sugar was similar to my stimulant addiction, I would lose my sh*t.
I want to say that I hear you and see you. After all, I have experienced the trauma and hopelessness of my own addiction. However, had I known that I was not some freak of nature, just a human being who was looking to Adderall to feel better and got hooked, I wouldn’t have felt so much shame.
If you are in AA, you are taught that you are “chemically imbalanced” and more susceptible to looking to substances to “feel better” based on familial genetics. They could be, right? I’m not a scientist, remember? But once I dove into the root cause of my addiction, I learned that it’s not because I’m uniquely diseased, I was looking to Adderall to cope with something that wasn’t quite right in my life.
It only makes sense that I reveled in the large instant release of dopamine from Adderall. According to Brewer, it is the “feel good” chemical that creates a neurobiological mechanism that starts the destructive habit loop of addiction. If you’re wondering what “neurobiological mechanism is”, same and stay with me… according to Brewer, the “neurobiological mechanism” refers to the physiological and biological processes within the nervous system that underlie various functions, behaviors, or conditions. In relation to our addiction/or dependence on Adderall, you might refer to the neurobiological mechanisms involved in the brain’s reward system, which includes the release of neurotransmitters like dopamine, and how these mechanisms contribute to addictive behaviors.
When I asked AI to explain this scientific explanation in layman’s terms, here’s what it said: “Simply put, think of neurobiological mechanisms as behind-the-scenes workings of our brain and nervous system. The “how and why” of how our brain controls everything we do and feel.”
Thank you, AI.
enter Reward-Based Learning
Enter Reward Based Learning. Reward-based learning is like a way our brains figure out what’s good and what’s not. When we do something and it feels good, our brain remembers that and makes us want to do it again. It’s kind of like learning from our experiences to seek out things that make us happy.
There are four parts to this learning process: Trigger, Behavior, Reward, and Repeat
My first experience ever with Adderall went like this:
Trigger- My friend suggested I take her Adderall to help me study for a test I was worried about
Behavior- I took Adderall and “magically” could study for hours
Reward- I got a B when I thought I would get a D
According to the Craving Mind, the danger of drugs like Adderall is that they hijack the reward system. We continue the behavior based on what we know worked before and lose the ability to examine the root of the problem.
My example of this that led to my demise with Addy
Trigger- I would wake up stressed with a thousand things on my mind looking for control and a peaceful feeling
Behavior- I took an Adderall
Reward- The dopamine hit
Then the “repeat” starts to become destructive and turns into dependence.
Repeat- I did it the next day and the next day and the next day…
Even with the stress and anxiety caused, each time I took the drug, I reinforced this brain pathway which said, DO IT AGAIN. Creating a habit loop Brewer bases his mindfulness practice on.
So how can I do this and where does Mindfulness and Awareness come in?
When we’re in that miserable habit loop and know something isn’t quite right, we are disconnected from ourselves. Yet our brains tend to use that very thing that’s hurting us as a tool to make us feel better. At this point, we’ve lost the ability to slow down and notice what’s going on in our minds and bodies. Mindfulness can prevent that from happening.
The definition of mindfulness used in this book is quoted by Jon Kabat Zinn: “The awareness that arises from paying attention, on purpose, in the present moment, and non-judgmentally." With mindfulness techniques and tools, you can examine, up close and personal, without judgment, what Addy is actually doing for you, which, if you’re reading this, is likely nothing positive.
How can you apply this practice?
You can apply this practice by understanding your own habit loop:
Trigger, behavior, reward, and why you repeat
I recommend reading this book for yourself to learn more about how mindfulness will help your cravings and the specific methods he teaches you! Until then, sign up for my newsletter and I will send a step-by-step example of the mindfulness practice as referenced in the book! You will see the freebie pop up in your inbox next week (as soon as I figure out how to do that!)
