Russell Brand's Reward Pathway

It's been a about a year and a half since my last post, not that it matters seeing as nobody reads it. My  page views are probably down to the google image searches people do across the globe bringing up some of the images I have attached to each of my blogs. Despite not really having a fan base for my blog I feel it necessary to explain why I havent blogged in a while. I have been preoccupied, not just with all the regular life stuff like work, family etc but the main reason is that I lost my drive to write and be creative. You see I had made this discovery that satisfaction and comfort no longer had to be earned with hard work and commitment it could also be bought for an evening or a day for just £20. After a while I started to need satisfaction and comfort more and more often and before long I was spending most my free time paying for it. The true cost was yet to be discovered when I decided I wanted to earn it the real way by no longer paying for it. The need outweighed the want and I found myself paying for these wonderful feeling daily. If I tried to stop, my body would ache for it so much that I would feel nothing but pain and loss. The government have clinics for people like us. Where addicts can come and find alternative options in order to regain control. Designed to manage the pain with medication brining peace to the physical body; but what about the soul. That empty space within was once filled with different types of highs but now its just an empty reminder of what is missing, what it could be filled with and why the empty space exists in the first place.

Anyone who has taken the time to read my blog will see what a fool I have been. In older blog posts I write with so much confidence in my ability to control drugs and how they can be wonderful if used correctly, I still stand by this but I never considered how drugs with a history of high dependance were more powerful than my own will and that they would fill the missing space within so well I would no longer want the space to become empty ever again. I imagine that the universe would want me to have filled that empty space the hard way. You see it has to be hard to fill that missing space so you can appreciate the fullness and never let go. Any type of shortcut is like a deal with the devil. The devil filled my empty space but as soon as it was full it would pour out of me like water. So now I am left with a space half full of the devil water but as soon as it is fully drained I will begin the slow painful task of refilling it with all the wonderful fundamentals we were all once born with. I think that faith in my abilities to repair the damage are the fundamental materials I need in order to start construction on my inner space. All the other stuff will follow. During this reconstruction I must remember to not do any deals with the devil again. It's offer to fill that void is temporary and will destroy the real work I have done, washing away all those foundations I have laid down with the help of the universe bringing me back to square one.

Russell Brand says the the route to recovery and filling that void inside is down a path of abstinence. I fear that he may be correct. Addicts have a very active part of the brain that deals with stress. Drugs and alcohol act as a dampener on that part of the brain and can bring a short-term fix to the problem. Remove this option to dampen the stress part of the brain will force us to find a natural alternative to deal with the stress. When a human being performs an action that satisfies a need or fulfills a desire, the neurotransmitter dopamine is released into the nucleus accumbens and produces pleasure. It serves as a signal that the action promotes survival or reproduction, directly or indirectly. The system is called the reward pathway. When we do something that provides this reward, the brain records the experience and we are likely to do it again. Damage to the nucleus accumbens and drugs that block dopamine release in the region make everything less rewarding. In nature, rewards usually come only with effort and after a delay. Addictive drugs provide a shortcut. Russell promotes abstinence because it worked for him and sooner we fix our reward pathway so it no longer relies of drugs the better. I guess the long journey of abstinence is made easier when you know you have a wonderful tv career at the end of it but what extra motivation do the rest of us addicts have? Focusing on something to celebrate at the end of your journey of abstinence is important but the desire to short fix is so powerful it's easy to forget about the horrible consequences of continuing on your druggy path.