Accessing Better Health: Guy Roz & Rachel Wurzman on Addiction
Accessing Better Health: Guy Roz & Rachel Wurzman on Addiction
Source: TED Radio Hour: Accessing Better Health (Listen: 51 min)
Contributor: Selena Garcia
“I THINK ADDICTION IS A NORMAL HUMAN RESPONSE TO PAIN AND A CERTAIN INTERNAL STATE.” - RACHEL WURZMAN
In this interview, Guy Roz speaks with Rachel Wurzman, who has a PHD in Neuroscience, and studies and treats addiction. More specifically, Rachel researches the part of our brain that’s connected to forming habits. She is also the Co-Founder of Seek Healing and Addiction Treatment Center.
Growing up in a home with generational addiction present, and having lost my mother to addiction, I've seen it most of my life. I recommend this interview if you'd like to gain more understanding or perspective on addiction. It may offer you a little tenderness for those afflicted with addiction, and a basic understanding of how the brain works.
“WE SOOTH OURSELVES. SOME OF US SOOTH OURSELVES BY DISTRACTING OURSELVES WITH OUR PHONES OR SOME PEOPLE DO IT WITH FOOD. BUT YOU CONTINUE TO DO A BEHAVIOR DESPITE IT HAVING NEGATIVE EFFECTS ON YOUR SOCIAL RELATIONSHIPS OR FAMILY RELATIONSHIPS, YOUR EMPLOYMENT, YOUR JOB, YOUR ABILITY TO FUNCTION.” - RACHEL WURZMAN
This podcast includes interviews with others, but for the piece with Rachel you can skip to the start time:
(Start: 40:46)
RACHEL: “We believe treatment starts with being aware of what is happening in your own body, and the way that your own internal physical experience is related to your emotion.”
RACHEL: “That part of the brain is called the striatum. It serves so many more functions than just preparing and chunking together habits, which is what it’s normally known for. It also, in a sense, serves as this filter for the rest of the brain to sort of recognize patterns of input coming around. The striatum gets activated in a particular way that it releases pre-packaged programs of behavior. So you can imagine that it’s really involved in something like addiction for one thing – compulsive behaviors of a really wide variety.”
GUY: “How would you describe what addiction is? One definition of addiction would be a choice that somebody makes. What is your description of what addiction is?”
RACHEL: “I think addiction is a normal human response to pain and a certain internal state. And at its extreme manifestations, when it comes to things like substances, it becomes even less voluntary because what happens is, as a result of the physiological effects of certain highly addictive substances––be it alcohol, or opioids or amphetamines and the way they activate the rewards system–– the brain wiring itself changes. And that makes it even harder to interrupt a particular behavior. But I think that humans engage in substance use to try and feel a little ok when they’re feeling restless or irritable or uncomfortable on a sometimes very subtle level.”
LISTEN TO THE FULL INTERVIEW WITH ADDITIONAL GUESTS, HERE. (51 min)
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