Hitting the Brain's Reset Button to Quit Addictive Substances

How do people become addicted to substances such as drugs or alcohol in the first place? Drugs modify the way in which the brain operates, and these changes make it difficult to quit a drug habit.

So what changes occur in the brain that leads to an addiction? The other form of neuroplasticity occurs when the pleasure centers of the brain are taken over. These areas demand more and more of a substance to feel happy and good. The brain also remaps itself so that feeding the addiction becomes the most natural course of action to produce happiness and satisfaction. Neuroplasticity allows the brain to forge new neuron pathways, even after the brain becomes damaged.

There are different ways to utilize neuroplasticity when overcoming addiction. One exercise is to recognize when thoughts and cravings for the substance occurs. A person experiencing these thoughts can take a step back and say to themselves, “This is just my brain sending me a false message to drink alcohol.” Eventually, this will lead to a clear awareness that it isn’t “me” having these thoughts, but a brain stuck in a depleting cycle that can be changed. The next step is to build new neural pathways by adopting habits and behaviors that will forge new, constructive neural connections.

Meditation has been shown to help train and physically modify the sensitive functioning of the brain.

Supreme Master Ching Hai has often expressed her love and understanding for people who struggle with addictions. “Because material today, we don't lack. Therefore, they're charmed, they're seduced into taking drugs, because in taking drugs, sometimes they can have hallucinations and feel comforted for a very short time. But little did they realize the very grave consequences after that. Therefore, meditation is the best way to relieve all this suffering of the people when they want to know God, when they want to know happiness inside. Because our happiness through meditation, through the Light and the music of Heaven, is everlasting. And it's always improving and always more and more happiness, and never has any consequences like the drugs.”