Addiction By Definition

I stopped counting my days of sobriety and focused instead on the ability to get right back on the "horse" after being bucked off.(relapse)To refresh everyone's memory, I have named three primary areas of possible addictive habits in my life. By definition, the brain has molded itself around these habits and mindful daily vigilance and awareness is necessary to achieve sobriety (or changing behavior) which will occur in time.
Here is my report card:
1) Compulsive Gambling--This was my most out of control addiction and after achieving one year of sobriety I had a major relapse in late 2017 which erased my gains. Recovering from that, I have become more mindful of my patterns, triggers, and brain-related disorders that contribute to the addiction. I no longer chart my days of sobriety except to say that I am usually sober 30-45 days before occasionally lapsing for usually no longer than a day. Thus, instead of one year sober and 6 months relapse, I now get 40 days sober and 1-day lapse...followed by 30-45 more sober days. The pattern is under better control. Mindful and healthy eating This one is subtle and is not so much an addiction as it is a lazy and bad habit. I'm working on eating healthier 80% of the time and messing up 20% of the time as a goal....and I hope to achieve a permanent healthy lifelong diet discipline that I can live with. Emotional Addiction This one is now the primary addiction that I am working on. It goes back even farther in my life than did the problem gambling. Much of it is of a personal and sensitive nature so I won't elaborate on it here except to say that I am gaining mindfulness on what once were unconscious and harmful emotional behaviors.In summation, I am learning more about myself and am being mindful and consciously aware of my behaviors. The summer is turning out to be productive. I am working and going to the health club at least 3 days a week. I am drinking more water as well.Thats my report.

I am happy to report that I am firmly back under control of my addictions, and I am thankful to again be mindful and aware of my successes as well as my failures. (We learn a lot from failure) Every time that I cycle into this stable pattern, I bring a bit more knowledge with me into the fight. My Doctor agrees with you. He claims that there are many people now obsessed with ketogenic diets and extreme intermittent fasting...which I will admit that I looked into a few months ago. (He calls those people Ketards! )As far as my basic diet goes, it is low carb all the way...but once stability has been achieved and blood sugars brought back under control, restrictions on carb intake can be relaxed. As a diabetic, I can't let carbohydrate addiction bring me down.Today is Day 15,(started my program on September 1st) and I weigh 230. My overall goal is mental...Psychiatrists tell me that I need to move from anxiety into awareness and from addictive behavior(self-medicating the anxiety) into positive action. Again, the key word is balance and mindfulness. My overall goals are to simply become more aware of my responsibilities for my own personal health and the best methods for avoiding addictive behaviors in general. I am optimistic once again!Edited by Phat, : No reason given.

Nonsense. Read
this and tell me what you think.By the way for those so interested, I had a few relapses and mental struggles since September 2018, but overall im getting stronger mentally. I now weigh 220. Edited by Phat, : No reason given.Edited by Phat, : No reason given.

Explain.

If you bothered to read my link, you would have found that it is only rational and animal. You prefer to call it good rational and bad rational, but there is nothing rational about being driven by emotions and hunger if they, in fact, are bad for you.
You say that you (or some in the future) will likely always smoke cigarettes. That behavior is never a part of the rational brain. It is an animal brain that likes it. Same with my gambling and all of the other addictions that people face.
Two Wolves ParableThe rational brain is a good wolf. The animal brain is the bad wolf. Comments?

It's better not to equate natural processes as good and bad; they're neutral. The 'animal brain' as you call it is actually the more primitive parts of our brain that mostly deal with survival and reproduction, breathing, sweating, feeling, seeing, hearing etc etc. It's not bad, it's essential to life.The bits of the brain that makes us human are those responsible for executive functions - decision making, rational analysis, planning the future etc etcYour executive functions regulate your desires and try prevent you doing things that feel good but might be bad for you or that are antisocial and destructive. They're developmental and need help to work.Executive Function & Self-Regulation

I know your link says that. I'm asking why you swallow it hook, line and sinker and consider everything else "nonsense". Are you under the impression that rationality is 100% reliable and can never be misused? I'm talking about how we use rationality to respond to those situations. Good and bad are not black and white. There are a lot of gray wolves in between.

The science makes sense. My rational mind knows what rational things I should do. Cigarette smoking is not rational. Nor is excessive drinking. My rational mind knows these things. Even drinkers who have no problem know their limits and the rationally minded ones never get too drunk. Not quite. I believe that rationality is a learning process. Again, there is nothing rational about being driven by emotions and hunger if they, in fact, are bad for you. I am as well. Remember a couple of years ago when you said this: The issue is not that you care what bad habits I have. The issue is whether your rational mind recognizes your own bad habits and informs you when you've gone too far. The RR people would argue that we talk ourselves out of rationality at times. Some of whom you keep out in the yard, while others you let into the house.Choose your addictions wisely.Edited by Phat, : No reason given.

Rational or not we are all driven by emotions, hunger, etc. Look at your ape evolution. The "rational" part comes in when trying to control what is irrevocably already there ... the animal. The "rational" part comes in channeling and enjoying the animal, good and bad. We got some smart apes around here.Nice image, too. Very good, Phat.

And yet people do smoke and drink too much. Their rational minds know it isn't good for them but they do it anyway. Often they even use their rational minds to rationalize their irrational behaviour. In the case of addiction, I don't think so. And then you smoke or drink or gamble anyway. That's what I'm saying. Why is it "nonsense" when I say it? If we could choose our addictions, they wouldn't be addictions.

Thats what is called the Addictive Voice. I believe that rationality is a learning process. Yes. Addiction is a brain disease. The prefrontal lobe heats up and numerous changes happen to the brain which locks a susceptible individual into an addiction. Thus, a large part of the "problem" is physical. RR and Jack Trimpey argue that much of the problem is mental as well. The animal brain, known in parlance as "The Beast" is the voice that cons yourself into allowing yourself to overindulge.
The issue is whether your rational mind recognizes your own bad habits and informs you when you've gone too far. Yes. It has happened. But it does not always happen, especially when I am paying attention and am mindful and aware of my feelings vs my actions. Because you always like to have the last word in an argument. Perhaps you become my rational voice and I become my own beast for a moment, summarily dismissing any and all of your claims. I feel offended at times that you try to win every argument. I believe. You don't. As for the "message", I suppose we can agree on that, but I'm not sure. Perhaps you have a point.

I don't think that's true. "The voice" is a product of the rational mind. Especially in an addiction like gambling, it's the rational mind that tells us what we can do with our winnings. I don't think the "animal brain" can anticipate such things. Non sequitur. Would you feel better if I tried to lose? I could lose by going inactive like Faith. We could make EvC your personal blog where nobody ever disagrees with you.

So are you essentially arguing that the neocortex is skeptical of the limbic system? Today, March 22, 2019, I weigh roughly 220. (Plus or minus 3 lb) I plan on using my rational mind in this latest attempt to master my addictions. I think that the rational mind is wise enough to know that there are no winnings. the rational mind allows itself to let the reptillian brain pleasure the body. Hmmmm...
non se·qui·tur
noun
a conclusion or statement that does not logically follow from the previous argument or statement.
Not every conclusion nor action of a rational person (or otherwise) is logical. Some actions are emotional and downright reptillian. The key is to recognize this fact and to determine which brain it comes from. Obviously both function together.
Trimpey argues that the animal brain somehow tries to trick the rationale of the neocortex into overindulging itself.

quote:

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Ever wonder why alcoholics and problem drinkers drink so much? It’s because alcohol produces in them a pleasure greater than all others ” an unspoken pleasure far greater than the normal survival drives of sex, eating, family life, the desire to succeed in life, and physical safety. The resulting drive to repeat that pleasure is proportionately stronger than normal survival drives. Alcohol is a synthetic, man-made substance, among a group of synthetic drugs that produce pleasure greater than evolution has prepared us to manage, a disorienting pleasure that causes one's moral compass to point south toward death rather than toward true north and life. (...)Humans live by universal family values, such as these:
Honesty, integrity, personal responsibility, industriousness, love, affection, loyalty, self-discipline, compassion, cheer, generosity, and mutual respect
In addiction, these human traits are lost without being missed by the addict. Through human eyes, significant others see the addict's coarse, animal disposition and feel alienated from him/her.

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Hey! not a bad idea! Except that nobody visits Faiths Blog and nobody would visit mine either.

Can someone live a life of balance? Can one drink rationally?
Obviously the answer is yes, because many do. Not everything is black and white, as ringo pointed out. I would argue, however, that for someone caught in the throes of an addiction, the issue is very much black and white. The brain pattern is abberent. The behavior is unproductive. The issue becomes life or death.

Must I stop __________ forever? RR argues that when one honestly asks themselves this question, they become in effect double-minded if they are an addict. The rational mind rejoices at the simple decision. The other voice, feeling, reaction, beast, demon, or whatever...recoils at the prospect. Thus the double mindedness is confirmed.

Can double mindedness be cured?
What does everyone think?

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Chance as a real force is a myth. It has no basis in reality and no place in scientific inquiry. For science and philosophy to continue to advance in knowledge, chance must be demythologized once and for all. ~RC Sproul
"A lie can travel half way around the world while the truth is putting on its shoes." ~Mark Twain "
~"If that's not sufficient for you go soak your head."~Faith

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You can "get answers" by watching the ducks. That doesn't mean the answers are coming from them.~Ringo

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Subjectivism may very well undermine Christianity.
In the same way that "allowing people to choose what they want to be when they grow up" undermines communism.~Stile

That's exactly my point. The rational mind is on both sides. That's not a reply to what you quoted. We're not talking about the addict's perspective. We're looking at it from outside.

Perhaps. Perhaps not. Allow me to translate that into RATIONAL RECOVERY Speak.
Rom 7:13-25
Has then what is good become death to me? Certainly not! But (reptilian brain) that it might appear carnal and addicted, was producing death in me through what is good,(distinguishing itself as the rational mind) so that pleasure through the commandment might become exceedingly tempting.. 14 For we know that the law(Rational Mind) is spiritual, but it is carnal, sold under sin. 15 For what I am doing, I do not understand. For what I will to do, that it does not practice; but what I hate, that it does.. 16 If, then, I do what I will not to do, I agree with the rational mind that it is good. 17 But now, it is no longer I who do it, but (tghe reptilian brain) that dwells in me. 18 For I know that in my flesh nothing good dwells; for to will (to be rational and wise) is present with me, but how to perform what is good I do not find. 19 For the good that I will to do, It does not do; but the evil I will not to do, that It practices. 20 Now if I do what I will not to do, it is no longer I who do it, but the reptilian brain that dwells in me.21 I find then a law, that evil (carnality and desire) is present with me, the one who wills to do good. 22 For I delight in the law of God according to the inward man.(Rational Conscience) 23 But I see another law in my members, warring against the law of my mind, and bringing me into captivity to the law of sin which is in my members.(If I allow it) 24 O wretched man that I am! Who will deliver me from this body of death? 25 I thank God -- through Jesus Christ our Lord!So then, with the rational mind I myself serve the law of the message, but with the flesh the law of sin.
NKJVSee how that works? Whenever anyone says that "the devil made me do it" they really mean to say that they themselves allowed the reptillian brain to override the rational mind. Edited by Phat, : No reason given.