{"id":39561,"date":"2024-11-18T12:32:53","date_gmt":"2024-11-18T20:32:53","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/?p=39561"},"modified":"2024-11-18T12:32:53","modified_gmt":"2024-11-18T20:32:53","slug":"dopamine-grit-mindset-heroin-and-pornography","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/dopamine-grit-mindset-heroin-and-pornography\/","title":{"rendered":"Dopamine – Grit, Mindset, Heroin, and Pornography"},"content":{"rendered":"

One could argue that life is nothing more than a series of chemical reactions.\u00a0 This is a thought that I had when I read Edwin Friedman\u2019s \u00a0A Failure of Nerve <\/em>\u00a0book, especially when he discussed the concept of reactivity.[1]<\/a>\u00a0 As much as I enjoyed reading this book to discover how neurotransmitters impact my marriage, I read Daniel Liberman and Michael Long\u2019s The Molecule of More<\/em> with two questions in mind.[2]<\/a> \u00a0First, based on Angela Duckworth’s book Grit<\/em>, and Carol Dweck\u2019s book Mindset does dopamine play a role in the Grit and Growth Mindset factor?\u00a0 Secondly, how does dopamine factor into the experience of heroin addicted soldiers returning home from Vietnam which is discussed in Adam Alter\u2019s book Irresistible<\/em>.[3]<\/a>\u00a0 Both of these questions are important to me as I work out my NPO on helping college students who habitually use pornography stop using.<\/p>\n

According to Dweck, a person\u2019s mindset refers to their beliefs that things such as \u201cintelligence, personality, or character are determined at birth or can grow and develop over time.[4]<\/a> Duckworth defines Grit as a combination of passion and perseverance that impacts a person’s ability to complete tasks.[5]<\/a>\u00a0 How does dopamine impact these qualities in a person?\u00a0 Liberman and Long discuss the two dopamine circuits, desire and control in their chapter titled \u201cDomination: How Far Will You Go?\u201d\u00a0 They write, \u201cDesire Dopamine makes us want things, while control dopamine \u201cgives us the ability to construct plans\u2014to strategize and dominate the world around us to get the things we want.\u201d[6]<\/a> \u00a0\u00a0Desire 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\u2019s concepts of grit. Liberman and Long provide us with studies using rats and manipulated dopamine levels to demonstrate desire and tenacity. \u00a0Another 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]<\/a>\u00a0 To illustrate dopamine\u2019s involvement in self-efficacy Liberman and Long mention people using drugs that boost dopamine.\u00a0 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. \u00a0They summarize by stating \u201cHaving a confident expectation of success can make obstacles melt before your eyes.\u201d[8]<\/a>\u00a0 Self-efficacy then is what I would compare to Dweck\u2019s concept of mindset.<\/p>\n

Alter in his book Irresistible<\/em> discusses how prevalent heroin use was in the Vietnam War, \u201c35 percent of the enlisted men said they had tried heroin, and 19 percent said they were addicted.\u201d[9]<\/a><\/p>\n

With the wars end, the US was concerned about bringing these soldiers home, \u201cHow do you deal with a sudden influx of 100,000 heroin addicts?\u201d[10]<\/a> The US prepared by trying to detox the soldiers prior to their return, but heroin addicts have a 95% rate of relapse. \u00a0A researcher was hired by the government to track these soldiers upon their return.\u00a0 Research showed that of the heroin addicted soldiers who returned to the U.S. only 5% relapsed.\u00a0 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]<\/a>\u00a0 How do Liberman and Long deal with these results?\u00a0 Liberman and Long acknowledge the power of cues, such as cartoons and bleach, that trigger a person\u2019s cravings.\u00a0 They discuss how willpower isn\u2019t enough to combat addictions and briefly discuss three types of psychotherapy motivational enhancement therapy, <\/em>focusing on the desire for and benefits of change; cognitive behavioral therapy, <\/em>focusing on identifying cues and developing strategies to resist them; and twelve-step facilitation therapy, <\/em>\u00a0focusing on the benefits of relationships with others and a higher power.[12]<\/strong><\/a> <\/em>They also mention that \u201cgetting rid of triggers isn\u2019t enough[13]<\/a>\u201d They discuss how addiction to alcohol actually changes a person’s DNA impacting the ability of their control circuits to function.\u00a0 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 \u201cmonotony of suburbia\u201d and enjoying the \u201cpleasures of home-cooked meals\u201d enough?[14]<\/a>\u00a0 I\u2019m 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.<\/p>\n

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\u2019s environment play in their ability to succeed? What kind of environment is necessary to help facilitate success?<\/p>\n

[1]<\/a> Edwin Friedman A Failure of Nerve: Leadership in the Age of the Quick Fix, <\/em>(New York: Church Publishing, 2007).<\/p>\n

[2]<\/a> Daniel Liberman and Michael Long, The Molecule of More<\/em>: How a Single Chemical in Your Brain Drives Love, Sex, and Creativity\u2014and Will Determine the Fate of the Human Race,<\/em> (Dallas, TX: BenBella, 2019).<\/p>\n

[3]<\/a> Adam Alter, Irresistible: The Rise of Addictive Technology and the Business of Keeping Us Hooked<\/em>, (New York, NY: Penguin, 2017).<\/p>\n

[4]<\/a> Carol Dweck, Mindset: Changing the Way You Think to Fulfil Your Potential<\/em>, (Great Britian: Robinson, 2017), 6-7.<\/p>\n

[5]<\/a> Angela Duckworth, Grit: The Power of Passion and Perseverance,<\/em> (New York, NY: Simon and Schuster, 2016), 8.<\/p>\n

[6]<\/a> Liverman and Long, 61-62.<\/p>\n

[7]<\/a> Liberman and Long, 69.<\/p>\n

[8]<\/a> Liberman and Long, 69.<\/p>\n

[9]<\/a> Alter, 47.<\/p>\n

[10]<\/a> Alter, 48.<\/p>\n

[11]<\/a> Alter 79-80.<\/p>\n

[12]<\/a> Liberman and Long, 100-105.<\/p>\n

[13]<\/a> Liberman and Long, 103.<\/p>\n

[14]<\/a> Alter, 59.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

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