![]() ![]() And desire isn’t fun, unless you’re just about to get whatever it is you want. The striatum – the brain’s reward system – is responsible, not just for pleasure, but more seriously, for feelings of desire. And those habits narrow the brain’s focus to a very singular goal, at the expense of everything else. But for those who get caught, the fun soon disappears.ĭrugs, including alcohol, fashion neural habits: get it, take it, lose it, then get it again. ![]() Which is generally OK, because recreational drug use, including drinking, doesn’t lead to addiction for most people. And that’s really how all mood-altering drugs work. People like to get drunk because alcohol smacks your brain around in a number of ways that feel pleasant, or at least different, or at the very least better than going without. It’s hard to find a way out of the recurrent cycle of anxiety and temporary relief, over and over, and that’s the epitome of a losing battle. But I think the real bogeyman, the unbeatable Catch-22 when it comes to alcohol and other drugs, is the realisation that the thing you rely on to relax is the very thing that stresses you out the most. Taken together, these effects make up what George F Koob calls the dark side of addiction. Add to that the emotional emptiness, depression, and increased stress responsiveness that overcome the drinker’s mood at the same time. First there are the unpleasant bodily effects that plague big drinkers when they stop for a few hours or, worse, a few days. That clash of concerns comes from several sources. The fear of going without, versus the fear of being unable to stop. Hence the aaaaahhhhh.īut once people become addicted to alcohol, as many do, the fun of the high is eclipsed by two opposing fears. The faster the alcohol goes in, the more internal opiates get released. Everyone knows that opiates feel good, but did you know that you can get your opiates legally by downing a stiff drink? The American martini – which consists of three ounces of gin and little else – feels particularly nice for a very simple reason. Sometimes called endorphins or internal opiates, they get released by alcohol too. ![]() But the fourth neurotransmitter tops the bill: opioids. So far, you’ve got physical relaxation, which diminishes stress, reduced judgment, allowing you to talk and behave however you want, and stimulation of the brain’s reward system, which makes you feel like something nice is about to happen. So what you get is a stream of dopamine coursing into the striatum (or reward system), the brain part that generates desire, anticipation and (once you’ve finally brought the glass to your lips) pleasure. What’s that again? Well, when you take off the brakes, the car starts to move. ![]() Meanwhile, GABA is also busy turning off the brakes on a system that releases dopamine, the molecule that takes centre stage in all varieties of addiction. The remarkable side effect of this general dimming is that your thoughts seem amazingly clear – which is nice – while in reality they are just amazingly limited. That’s why your judgment is flawed, your decision-making is set to “whatever” and your ability to see things from any perspective other than your own approaches nil. In the prefrontal cortex, the part of the brain you use for thinking and planning, the net effect is inhibition. Less excitation and more inhibition? That sounds like simple summation, but GABA and glutamate have different effects on different brain regions, and that’s where things get complicated. While alcohol increases GABA, it reduces the uptake of glutamate, the brain’s premier excitatory molecule. I’ll mention three important ones and show how they contribute to the joys of inebriation. ![]()
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