Behavior and thinking changes the brain

[TIM]

To understand why working a recovery plan, changing people places and things, time away from active addiction, and counseling helps better prepare you for a time when medication is no longer needed to remain addiction free, consider this article:

Taxi drivers' knowledge helps their brains grow

It explains that taxi drivers in London have significantly altered the biology of their brains simply by learning. As you read it think of how learned behavior related to addiction can have the same effect. It supports the idea that changes in environment and behavior may reduce some of the compulsion of addiction. I found it very interesting.

Tim

[OhioMike]

Great analogy! It has been printed and will be passed out at the meeting tonight!

[TIM]

Thanks Mike, There's another article I'll try and find "The biology of counseling" it talks about how conditioning alters the structure of the brain and affects behavior. I think the value of counseling is sometimes underestimated, but it can have a huge impact with some people's recovery.
Tim

[Mike]

I didn't beleive in counseling or therapy until I learned about this a few years ago. I figured "if you can fix it by talking about it, it's not really broken." Then I learned about how by forcing yourself to do things or think certain ways you can change the biology of your brain. this made alot of sense to me. I knew my brain was altered by addiction and I knew I had to change it. I found a good counselor who taught me techniques to retrain my brain and make me think less about drugs. Anyways, if people are resistant to counseling you should read this article.

[Suture]

Here's my take on this- The psychologic and the biologic are one in the same. Everything we think, see feel, taste, hear, or touch is a biological response. All of our behavior is a biological response. Repeated behavior can also affect the biology. That's what addiction recovery is. It's changing our brains through our own influence over our behavior. When we do this enough, we change our biology thus reprogramming the brain. Medications can help us do this by eliminating the distractions of cravings and withdrawal letting us focus on our thinking and behavior.
S-