How Drug Use Hijacks Our Response to Happiness
Julie Myers, Psy.D.
It’s not difficult to understand why someone, who is actively using drugs, may feel bored when he/she is not high. It is more difficult to understand why that person may continue to have difficulty enjoying activities once the drug is stopped. But this is not uncommon. People who quit using drugs often report that they are bored, uninspired, and have a hard time enjoying everyday living. Why does this happen? It has to do with the brain chemical (neurotransmitter) called dopamine.
We are programmed from birth to seek pleasure, and when dopamine is released into the brain, we experience it as pleasure. Pleasurable activities release dopamine into the brain, and our choice to engage in activities often has a direct relationship to the amount of dopamine released.
Drugs of abuse release rapid and large amounts of dopamine directly into the brain. In essence, they hijack the normal pleasure/reward pathway of the brain, directly stimulating it with readily available dopamine. Such a massive and easily obtained source of dopamine dwarfs our ability to obtain dopamine from smaller, but more sustainable sources, such as what we would get from reading a good book, taking a walk with friends, or reaching a goal at work.
When the memory of drugs is strong, it may be difficult to find pleasure in everyday activities. The memory of how drugs activate the reward center remains even after an individual stops using the drug. With time, and as one begins to engage in everyday activities, the memory of the drug as a ready source of dopamine fades, and simple activities take on more meaning and pleasure. The brain relearns ways to obtain pleasure from smaller, more sustainable sources of dopamine.
Does this mean that someone must simply wait for the brain to reprogram itself? No! You can change your brain! As with any learning, the more you practice, the faster the skill is learned. You may have to push yourself, engaging in pleasurable everyday activities. You won’t feel a huge surge of dopamine like you used to with drugs, but you will obtain some pleasure and you will be retraining your brain. So try to remember some of the activities you used to do before you started using drugs, imagine yourself doing these things, and do them now. Start getting engaged with life and find meaningful and enduring satisfactions that will reward your brain. It’s up to you!
Reprinted with permission from SMART Recovery San Diego
Copyright ( 2012) Julie Myers, PysD: Psychologist in San Diego. All Rights Reserved.
I recently remember what an experienced AA member told me long ago, before Smart, that if you were a heavy user for a long time, you can do stuff to improve your mood, but it takes about a year for the brain to thoroughly unscramble. So no matter what you do, don’t expect the first year of sobriety to be a thrill ride. After a year, I began to take pleasure in the simple things in life again.
Wow! After just a year. That gives me hope. Been hooked on H for 20 odd years. The bane of my life.
Thanks for your comment.
A year?? Oh my god this gives me no hope! 🙁 I can’t deal with the depression
Meg, I have a funny story for you about depression.
I had it pretty bad this winter. Like, have-to-see-the-doctor-and-not-go-to-work bad. In that moment of weakness, I called up my verbally abusive ex for want of company and whatever substances he had.
I thought I needed him and what he had. And of course, after a couple weeks of getting drawn back into all of that, the depression was made worse with the drugs and with him mindraping me with those good ol’ “you are” statements.
Yes, I was making the necessary appointments, but it was in spite of all this, not because of it. And as my ex and his drugs brought me down more and more and more, I hit bottom twice. Two times, I got to the point where I finally just wanted to die. The second time, I bought a rope and went home.
The first thing that kept me from using that rope is the three day rule. If you’re going to be dead anyways, why not wait three days? The second thing is realizing that my table would look a lot better if it was in a different spot in my room. So I thought “well if I’m sad anyways, what does it matter if I just move it?” This became “what does it matter if I just clean up a little? I’m hurting so freaking much anyways.”
Then I noticed that my apartment looked a bit better, a bit cleaner, and it was quiet. And in that quiet, I learned something. It wasn’t the depression that made me suicidal. Depression is treatable and manageable. What made me suicidal was my ex and his drugs. I didn’t sleep properly because of these. I didn’t replenish my soul. And it was that that was killing me.
So tell me Meg, are drugs replenishing your soul? Is your depression getting better? Is your life getting fuller and fuller of positive things as it goes on?
Thank you for sharing your success story, Dee.
Urgent Help Resources are available on our website at https://smartwww.wpengine.com/urgent-help-resources/
Depression is a serious matter. If you’re having suicidal thoughts, please seek help from a friend, family member. or your doctor. For immediate support contact the National Suicide Prevention Hotline 1-800-273-8255.
Me too it’s so hard . I struggle everyday. If you need a friend to talk with I’m a good listener
Truly Helpful Dee! Thank you for this!! its
given me more hope than you know!!! Dan
My depression started about a year after quitting.
I’m Darren. I’m struggling with tramadol.
Hi Darren,
Thanks for reaching out. Please visit our website, http://www.smartrecovery.org and https://www.smartrecoveryinternational.org/, for information about SMART around the world.
You can also join our online community at https://smartwww.wpengine.com/community/calendar.php
This. I was doing alright until everyone in meetings told me the second year is way harder. Maybe it would have come anyways, but the depression is so hard now. I’m going in for meds soon. 14 mo sober.
This may have just prevented me from a relapse. 1 year clean!
Hi Darren I’m Zena and also struggling with getting off tramadol. I’ve been on and off for about two years now and always find my way back to it. It’s tortuous knowing the first second I’m off I get depressed. I hate it. I hate medication, but I can’t help but keep taking it. I have an almost two year old and if I’m off it I can’t physically take care of him, so it’s become something I have no choice over.
Interesting! I use Kaiser Health and I can’t believe what I have gone through Keeping my Pain Medicine in check. I have been told that when you stop pain meds you will feel better. I am ignored when I question the Doctor. They actually believe that your pain will go away when you stop the meds. And get this. I never get a real answer. I am told by the medical Doctors that they will not continue what my retired MD prescribed. Well I still can’t find any website where they have verified that stopping your pain control will cure your pain. I wonder why a person uses Heroin? I really know why. They have major pain issues. Perhaps they have found the best pain reliever. If I had access to it I am certain I would try it.
Unfortunately that is the story of many addicts who eventually resort to IV use of heroin. It is far more common that use of a prescribed opiate was the beginning of one’s addiction, as opposed to deciding to one day try heroin with little to no experience with any other opiate pill. I certainly did not ever foresee that in ten years that my future would be strung out on heroin, smoking crack, on the methadone program AND abusing benzos when I left my doctors office with a prescription for tramadol to treat a chronic neck injury. At the time, tramadol was considered a synthetic opiate, therefore not scheduled as a controlled substance & with the selling point to patients being that it is “not addictive”. WRONG. What started out as a way to relieve pain and be able to function as a normal human, ended with ultimately realizing the most difficult way possible that I have to rely on nonchemical means of treating the pain and basically learn to live with it. It’s scary when you’re still dependant on the opiate, but it does get better once your body starts to build its pain tolerance back and your brain starts to restore itself of chemicals you depleted by replacing the natural opiates produced by your body with drugs.
The pain will slowly get better as your receptors heal and your perception of the pain will change as well. Took oxycodone over a decade and my pain continually increased and so did the dose. Your buddy will actually have a chance to build pain tolerance and resistance over a few months of abstinence
Thanks for it !
How long must I suffer with this NUMB feeling? It’s been 11 months.