Wendy and Dr. Meaghan discuss different aspects of addiction and how it has been tied to a lack of connection and not just an imbalance in the brain and dopamine. This conversation was stirred by a great talk done by Johann Hari, who has written the book "Chasing The Scream". He spent three years researching the war on drugs. His Ted Talk can be found at this link: http://go.ted.com/b5UU
Here is a good overview of what addiction is from Psychology Today: https://www.psychologytoday.com/basics/addiction.
What Johann Hari found through his research is that many times addiction comes on because there is a lack of connection in other places in someone’s life and the substance fills that void. He relates this to how we should then change the way we approach addiction.
We highly recommend that you listen to the Ted Talk from Johann Hari. It is about 14 minutes and full of great information.
Thanks for listening. Remember to be kind to others, take care of yourself, and make good choices.