Carl Hart Describes Drug Addicts and Addiction | Big Think

Carl Hart Describes Drug Addicts and Addiction
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Invoking chocolate, the professor talks about the right way and the
wrong way to define a drug addiction.
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Dr. Hart:
Dr. Hart is an Associate Professor of Psychology in both the Departments of Psychiatry and Psychology at Columbia University, and Director of the Residential Studies and Methamphetamine Research Laboratories at the New York State Psychiatric Institute. A major focus of Dr. Hart’s research is to understand complex interactions between drugs of abuse and the neurobiology and environmental factors that mediate human behavior and physiology.
He is the author or co-author of dozens of peer-reviewed scientific articles in the area of neuropsychopharmacology, co-author of the textbook, Drugs, Society, and Human Behavior, and a member of a NIH review group. Dr. Hart was recently elected to Fellow status by the American Psychological Association (Division 28) for his outstanding contribution to the field of psychology, specifically psychopharmacology and substance abuse.
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TRANSCRIPT:
Question: How do you define addiction?
Hart: There are multiple ways to define addiction of course but in medicine, when we think about when people come to, for health care. We think of addiction in terms of the DSM termed. The DSM is the Diagnostic in Statistical Manual. It is produced by the American Psychiatric Association and in that book; it has a clear definition of what addiction is. Addiction typically, we think of it as people may exhibit tolerance to a substance they may go through withdrawal when they don’t have the substance. They may spend increasing amount of time engage in the behavior to obtain or use the substance they may have had unsuccessful, number unsuccessful attempts to cut down their use of the substance. They may use despite the fact that they are having psychological or physical problems. These are sort of hallmarks of addiction. So like when people use the term in popular culture, they typically have another perspective in mind. Some people use things like I’m a hopping addict, I’m a chocolate addict or something and that’s a more benign use of the term but then there are people who use the term, they think of things like folks who will steal your money and rob you, they are addicts.
Question: How do you identify an addict early on?
Hart: You can think about it from a biological perspective with alcohol people tends to think folks who have a parent for example who was an alcoholic. They may have an increase likelihood of becoming dependent on alcohol while that’s the case we’re not entirely sure but people who are looking at genetics and other biological markers but we’re not real sure but we certainly think that they may have an increase likelihood and then there are of course there are important social factors, doing certain points of your life you may be more likely to be addictive to a substance because of some conditions under which you are experience, you don’t have a job, you don’t have any responsibilities, you have a greater access to a particular substance than you normally would have. All of these things could increase the likelihood of somewhat becoming addictive.

[@gavinhudson5742]

Addiction is caused by trauma. Ritualized compulsive comfort-seeking.

[@emilyspinach4603]

Not true

[@archimusprime2400]

True for many but certainly not all. The statement is far too generalized. For some, it’s purely chemical - an abnormal dopamine response to certain substances which causes a euphoria most people do not experience, followed by an intense and obsessive craving for more which, again, most people do not experience. Trauma is not a necessary precursor to this chemical abnormality.

[@antonvarhenmaa9462]

@@archimusprime2400 100% true, I have not experienced any trauma and used most drugs heroin , benzo etc, weed is what hooked me chemically and I was addicted to it for a long time. Weed gave me intense euphoria that I don't believe many experience, almost as if you are on ecstascy.

[@djangoeastwood7462]

There are countless causes for addiction.

[@unshapedloki5767]

​@emilyspinach4603 it can be but not for all there are so many variables in life people could have issues from something entirely differently. I think are society doesn't have very many healthy dopamine hits, peoples brains are designed to seek out dopamine hits for survival. When they don't get the dopamine there brain needs, they expirence discomfort and look somewhere for something to satisfy said neurotransmitter.

[@placo10100]

Anybody can become addicted to anything and anything can be abused , addiction becomes a disease at the point where an individual loses self control then it becomes a disorder known as OCD which should not be confused with OCB , Obsessive Compulsive Behavior is a compulsive behavior that is brought on by repetition caused by a trigger usually an emotional trigger this compulsive behavior can be modified once the triggers are Identified then through utilizing a technique called redirection we can change the outcome of the unwanted behavior unfortunately this can not be done with Obsessive Compulsive Disorder because this is a neurological condition that involves the nervous system that could very well be the result of brain damage or a birth defect therefor much more complex and difficult to modify and correct but not Impossible. The huge problem in our society is the stigma that is created from prohibition and the criminalization of those whom are most effected by substances that have been deemed illegal in our society this stigma is created by our system and therefor creates prejudice against those who partake in the use of these substances like any other type of prejudice this should not be It is not the place of the government to determine or influence what we do with our bodies or what we put in them . We are not sheep though our government is determined to treat us as such . We all should have absolute right and control to determine for our selves what we should be able to consume especially when we see legal substances clearly doing more harm than illegal substances and prohibition is what creates black markets and promotes criminal behavior in the World as well as in our country. Our very laws promote this negative behavior and this needs to stop. Education , intervention , and treatment is the key not incarceration . If you see an individual hopelessly addicted to a substance we should exhibit Tolerance , empathy and understanding not stand in judgement of the character of that individual and cause further harm because there but for the grace of god goes I.

[@isidoramaldonado1514]

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[@gretaholmes783]

No. 90% of addiction starts in TEEN YEARS. 99.5% it was NEVER THEIR MEDS.

[@gretaholmes783]

Not really. That’s how he hype in PURE PROFIT UNREGULATED “REHAB” - Women have been trafficked from MANY!! So -no! DO NOT GET ADVICE FROM the used car-salesmen in USA 🇺🇸 FOR PURE PROFIT ADDICTION “REHAB”!

[@brittaolson6550]

@@gretaholmes783 It’s 75-80% that it was never their meds, according to NIDA. But, still, that’s a lot. There are plenty of adults who develop new addictions, but it does help if you don’t use drugs/alcohol til 25.

[@emilyspinach4603]

Is Carl ok here?

[@brittaolson6550]

His head on crooked

[@yeimarsoto3196]

Yes, he is just nodding that's all

[@grawakendream8980]

the lone voice of sanity on drug use

[@placo10100]

A person only becomes addicted to the degree they choose to abuse a substance the very first substance that we are exposed to that promotes addiction is processed sugar most widely abused and addictive substance on the planet think of it a concentrated plant alkaloid that is then bleached and crystallized that when consumed alters behavior and energy levels promoting obsessive compulsive behavior OCB basically training you to become an addict before you are even aware of what addiction is derived from sugar cane which by the way in its natural state will not impact the body like it does after its been concentrated and processed so sense you were exposed to this substance and trained to be an addict from birth you haven't a chance unless you had knowledgeable parents to protect you from this exposure and promoted proper eating habits which by the way are as unique as the individual every body metabolizes caloric intake differently according to there individual biochemistry so all these fad diets and pills an extracts might work for the few and far between they wont necessarily work for you neither will the psychology so beware of the hocus pocus out there.The body is an autonomous self healing self balancing self correcting entity and as long is you go natural and organic you cannot go wrong its when you go to extremes you cause imbalance in natures perfect creation.

[@BOBMAN1980]

You were high AF when you wrote this, weren't you? My guess was a mix of weed and adderoll. Lots of it.

[@unshapedloki5767]

Bros hair is too heavy

[@julittok]

OH come on! put your head straight, it makes me nervous xD

[@doxistavrou8887]

is that all yu got from this important talk..his neck?

[@yeimarsoto3196]

He's nodding, can't help it

[@jazzmastaj]

Whats happened to his neck man !?

[@jaikhemani5181]

his hair is too heavy

[@woodywoodlstein9519]

Carl’s a great guy researcher ya. Medical doctor no. Do not forget that this guy does not treat patients. And has no training or education to treat people’s illness . He’s a researcher and so he has all the wiggle room he needs to be persuasive unlike a medical doctor. Keeo that in mind and don’t misinterpret the things he says to mean that drug use is ok. It’s really not ok for 99.9% of the people who use them. Your body produces all of the same drugs you can get in a bottle or baggie on the street but it’s way more refined. Way more pure and potent and the dose is exactly what’s needed not less or more Not in the morning and one at night. It’s 247. Without these drugs , your body as a pharmacy to itself We would not be able to operate. We would have killed our selves before we could even stand So when you step in and start overlapping these drugs from the outside in all these careful charactersytics are thrown out. And your body says oh ok you got this do ya ? Ok. We’ll see. And it backs off. This is why withdrawal happens. And why it takes so long It feels like a long time becayse we feel things every nano second of the day when we’re awake. In withdrawal you likely cannot sleep either so you don’t get that break either. Keep that in mind aswell. So a few days , a week , feels like an eternity when you know you can cure withdrawal by taking the drug again. But then you will have to start the agonizing process all over Again . And all of this while you are trying to maintain your life. A job or school or both. A family , spouse , loved ones who you are there for. Suddenly you cannot be there for fir those 7 days and nights. (About how long it takes for withdrawal from opiates ) Carl has a real problem where he generalizes his rhetoric on drugs. And it’s because he’s never treated a human being before that he does that and because his career is based on his popularity , charm and personality not clinical experience and education. In other words not reality.