Dopamine – Grit, Mindset, Heroin, and Pornography
One could argue that life is nothing more than a series of chemical reactions. This is a thought that I had when I read Edwin Friedman’s A Failure of Nerve book, especially when he discussed the concept of reactivity.[1] As much as I enjoyed reading this book to discover how neurotransmitters impact my marriage, I read Daniel Liberman and Michael Long’s The Molecule of More with two questions in mind.[2] First, based on Angela Duckworth’s book Grit, and Carol Dweck’s book Mindset does dopamine play a role in the Grit and Growth Mindset factor? Secondly, how does dopamine factor into the experience of heroin addicted soldiers returning home from Vietnam which is discussed in Adam Alter’s book Irresistible.[3] Both of these questions are important to me as I work out my NPO on helping college students who habitually use pornography stop using.
According to Dweck, a person’s mindset refers to their beliefs that things such as “intelligence, personality, or character are determined at birth or can grow and develop over time.[4] Duckworth defines Grit as a combination of passion and perseverance that impacts a person’s ability to complete tasks.[5] How does dopamine impact these qualities in a person? Liberman and Long discuss the two dopamine circuits, desire and control in their chapter titled “Domination: How Far Will You Go?” They write, “Desire Dopamine makes us want things, while control dopamine “gives us the ability to construct plans—to strategize and dominate the world around us to get the things we want.”[6] Desire dopamine is where our passion comes from. Control dopamine is what provides us the perseverance or what Liberman and Long refer to as tenacity. This explains Duckworth’s concepts of grit. Liberman and Long provide us with studies using rats and manipulated dopamine levels to demonstrate desire and tenacity. Another concept that Liberman and Long discuss is that of self-efficacy; the belief that we can succeed at accomplishing something before we even do it.[7] To illustrate dopamine’s involvement in self-efficacy Liberman and Long mention people using drugs that boost dopamine. These individuals will often take on so many projects that they cannot complete simply because the increased dopamine gives them the belief that they can accomplish things. They summarize by stating “Having a confident expectation of success can make obstacles melt before your eyes.”[8] Self-efficacy then is what I would compare to Dweck’s concept of mindset.
Alter in his book Irresistible discusses how prevalent heroin use was in the Vietnam War, “35 percent of the enlisted men said they had tried heroin, and 19 percent said they were addicted.”[9]
With the wars end, the US was concerned about bringing these soldiers home, “How do you deal with a sudden influx of 100,000 heroin addicts?”[10] The US prepared by trying to detox the soldiers prior to their return, but heroin addicts have a 95% rate of relapse. A researcher was hired by the government to track these soldiers upon their return. Research showed that of the heroin addicted soldiers who returned to the U.S. only 5% relapsed. Alter suggests addiction embeds itself in memory and that removing the soldiers from the environment, the external cues, that were present when using heroin prevented them from relapsing.[11] How do Liberman and Long deal with these results? Liberman and Long acknowledge the power of cues, such as cartoons and bleach, that trigger a person’s cravings. They discuss how willpower isn’t enough to combat addictions and briefly discuss three types of psychotherapy motivational enhancement therapy, focusing on the desire for and benefits of change; cognitive behavioral therapy, focusing on identifying cues and developing strategies to resist them; and twelve-step facilitation therapy, focusing on the benefits of relationships with others and a higher power.[12] They also mention that “getting rid of triggers isn’t enough[13]” They discuss how addiction to alcohol actually changes a person’s DNA impacting the ability of their control circuits to function. This information was useful but still left me wondering about the 95% success rate that heroin addicted soldiers experienced. Given what Liberman and Long suggest, simply removing a person from their external cues should not be enough to prevent relapse. What dopaminergic reward did these soldier experience? Was going grocery shopping, going back to work, experiencing the “monotony of suburbia” and enjoying the “pleasures of home-cooked meals” enough?[14] I’m not sure how many if any of these soldiers received any therapy to arm them with tools to combat triggers, and the cravings they produce, that Long and Liberman would suggest may be necessary. I know the study of the returning Vietnam veterans did not examine dopamine, but I was disappointed that Liberman and Long did not mention this study as it leaves me with questions as I work out my NPO.
When working to design interventions to assist students wanting to stop using pornography the desire (passion) and control (perseverance) dopamine circuits may provide the grit needed to stop using pornography. Dopamine may also provide the self-efficacy (mindset) needed to believe they can succeed at quitting. Appropriate mental health counseling can help channel mindset and grit towards success. A couple lingering questions I have include, how much of a role does the student’s environment play in their ability to succeed? What kind of environment is necessary to help facilitate success?
[1] Edwin Friedman A Failure of Nerve: Leadership in the Age of the Quick Fix, (New York: Church Publishing, 2007).
[2] Daniel Liberman and Michael Long, The Molecule of More: How a Single Chemical in Your Brain Drives Love, Sex, and Creativity—and Will Determine the Fate of the Human Race, (Dallas, TX: BenBella, 2019).
[3] Adam Alter, Irresistible: The Rise of Addictive Technology and the Business of Keeping Us Hooked, (New York, NY: Penguin, 2017).
[4] Carol Dweck, Mindset: Changing the Way You Think to Fulfil Your Potential, (Great Britian: Robinson, 2017), 6-7.
[5] Angela Duckworth, Grit: The Power of Passion and Perseverance, (New York, NY: Simon and Schuster, 2016), 8.
[6] Liverman and Long, 61-62.
[7] Liberman and Long, 69.
[8] Liberman and Long, 69.
[9] Alter, 47.
[10] Alter, 48.
[11] Alter 79-80.
[12] Liberman and Long, 100-105.
[13] Liberman and Long, 103.
[14] Alter, 59.
About the Author
Jeff Styer
Jeff Styer lives in Northeast Ohio's Amish Country. He has degrees in Social Work and Psychology and currently works as a professor of social work at Mount Vernon Nazarene University. Jeff is married to his wife, Veronica, 25+ years. Together they have 4 beautiful children (to be honest, Jeff has 4 kids, Veronica says she is raising 5). Jeff loves the outdoors, including biking, hiking, camping, birding, and recently picked up disc golf.One response to “Dopamine – Grit, Mindset, Heroin, and Pornography”
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Jeff,
You ask some insightful questions at the end. I also really appreciate the Vietnam war study. That is fascinating and also horrifying at the same time. It might help explain why there are so many homeless Vietnam vets. With the accessibility of pornography from any device I wonder if there is a way to take a break from the devices for a while. Certainly, people can’t go without a phone or computer long term but I wonder if breaking the cycle for a week or even a few days might help detach the addictive cycles and give a bit of a reset.