"Rat" way to get rid of any addiction

2024 Author: Malcolm Clapton | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-17 03:44

It doesn't matter if you depend on social media, cigarettes or fast food. There is a universal and very effective way to defeat addiction. The teacher and trainer Andrei Yakomaskin talks about him.

Two years ago, researchers from Hong Kong counted 182 million people with Internet addiction in the world. This is about 7% of the population with access to the World Wide Web at that time. Today, already 320 million people on Earth are unable to give up the Internet without harming their emotional state.

But you can depend not only on the Web. There is also fast food, cigarettes or, which is much more dangerous, alcohol and drugs. Moreover, all dependencies have a similar origin. And there is one universal way to get rid of them.

In the late 1970s, Canadian psychologist Bruce Alexander was doing drug addiction research.

The bottom line was simple. Two reservoirs were installed in the cage with the rat: one with ordinary water, the other with a sweetened solution of morphine. Needless to say, once having tasted the solution, the rodents stopped drinking ordinary water and died pretty quickly.

And then Bruce Alexander remarked:

We put the rat in an empty cage. What else does she have to do except take drugs?

Then the site was created, which received the name of the Rat Park.

This park was a spacious room filled with all kinds of entertainments for rodents: balls, running tunnels, females for mating, cheese and, of course, all the same two drinkers. The new residents of the park completely ignored the drug. While it's important to mention that several rats did try it, they showed no signs of addiction.

The published results have shaken the key idea of the chemical origin of drug addiction. Alexander proved that addiction is not caused by the very nature of drugs, but by the conditions in which they are encountered.

Most people get addicted not because the Internet, computer games or tons of cakes bring them pleasure, but because they do not see an alternative.

Most likely, there are simply no people around who give love and care. Addicts do not see an opportunity to show their talents or overcome themselves, because their world is more like a cage.

Dealing with addiction is not about one person's desire to improve their life. Here you need the care of those who are around, who are ready to love and provide real support.

To overcome your cravings, simply find people who are willing to lend you a shoulder and surround yourself with them. But it's even better if you find someone who needs help and walk this path together.

And often remind yourself that the point is not about what you are addicted to, but how to perceive your world: as a cage or as a park.