So I just read an article by a supposed psychologist Jeff Schaler who wrote a book “addiction is a choice”. In the year 2018 when we have such an abundance of scientific evidence that addiction resides in certain parts of the brain.The addiction center of the brain is a very specific part that is exclusively responsible for the circuits that make us do things that we dont want to do. In fact they have scanned the brain and have even found that part of the brain, called the nucleus accumbens which is the center that gets “hijacked” by addictions.
They have found that this is the very same part of the brain that is responsible for all addictions whether drugs or gambling or food. It is true that many of the actions that lead “up” to addiction were choices that we make but once the chemicals hijack our brains it becomes an addiction.
The short of it is that once the wheels of the addiction are in motion there is a self feeding fire that continues to reinforce the circuits that created the addiction. Pet scans have shown us how these parts of the brain continue to be active even long after the chemical is gone. We have even seen in the Pet scans that the circuits that are triggered by heroin are the same circuits triggered by oreo cookies. It is so short-sighted and so simple minded to think that with all of the knowledge we have that addiction can be as simple as a “choice”. Do any of you “choose” to feel miserable? I personally think now.