This ONE Shift Can Help You Recover from ANY Substance Abuse Issue or Addiction.

You can create a really simple perspective shift that can help you stop addictive behaviour once and for all…

It’s all about how you see the problem. If you don’t know what you are dealing with, you can’t change it.

Do you know what defines insanity and the pain that goes with it??

It’s doing the same thing over and over again but expecting different results.

That’s insanity. I’ve been there, maybe you have as well?

Here’s my different treatment model, a simplified version of it.?

This will guide you to where you need to be, so you can stop relying on sheer will power.

Let go of the new gym memberships and new routines that don't work for you. What you need is a targeted treatment approach.

Stop promising yourself you won’t do it again, and again, and again, to no avail.?

You must be baffled? Asking yourself, “Why do I keep doing it?

One in ten people suffer from addiction issues and/ or struggle with other problematic behaviours. Quite simply because our brains are different.

I know this because I am one of them. You might be too.

Addiction is a disease of the brain.

For the purposes of this explanation, I have simplified the model so as to give you a snapshot of how I work.

Let's say the human brain has 3 main parts, the brain stem, the midbrain, and the prefrontal cortex

This brain system is powerful, running from the bottom up. It is a survival system.?

It’s all about survival. It’s not here to keep us happy or to give up pleasure, it's only about survival.

The brainstem (at the very bottom) is responsible for vital functions like the heart muscle, the midbrain (middle) is responsible for feelings, while the Prefrontal cortex (right at the top) is responsible for high level & consequential thinking.

Our ability to make choices, ‘should I? or shouldn’t I?' is done in that really important part of our brain up the top, the Prefrontal cortex. This is where consequential thinking happens.?

You can remember this easily by remembering that the brain stem is the reptilian part of the brain, the lizard brain really early in evolutionary terms. The midbrain is the mammalian brain that formed over thousands of years of further evolution. Then at the top, the Prefrontal cortex is the humanistic part that took even longer to come into existence.?

The brain evolved from the bottom up, it's a survival system that is also evolutionary in nature.

The human brain is powerful, running from bottoms up with our survival its main goal. Its purpose is to keep us alive, remember??

If we are able to think with our humanistic part of the brain (up the top) ...

“I don't want to live anymore; I’ve had a really bad week”.?

...the part of our brain responsible for choosing what's next could stop our heart beating! Just with a thought! That wouldn’t be at all good for our survival, so we can’t do it.

The brain is set-up in a way that protects our longevity, our survival. This is what I mean with the brain is very powerful, running strong from the bottom to the top. It needs to be… to keep us alive.

Somewhere along the line we learned that we can manage these difficult feelings, sadness, anxiety etc. using addictive substances and behaviours.

Feeling sad? Have a drink. Feeling anxious? Smoke some weed….

This is a learned behaviour.?

A maladaptive approach at managing feelings.

The problem is that when your brain is wired differently, this engaging in certain behaviours gives you an incredibly high hit of dopamine. Dopamine is the pleasure-seeking hormone. Once large amounts of dopamine are released in the brain it's all about GO GO GO. When you mix dopamine with these feelings, your brain goes into?fight or flight?mode.

When your brain is in the?fight or flight?mode, the top part of your brain, the Prefrontal cortex literally goes offline. When we are in this space called “active addiction”, we are unable to access that part of the brain that allows us to think consequently, we stop being able to choose our next action…?

This is why once we start, we can’t stop.?

We have to understand the complexity of the brain system, at this level to make change.?

Addiction happens in the brain and needs to be addressed in the brain.?

I hope this offered some clarity and if you have questions or if you would like to work with me, feel free to send me a message and I’ll reach out as soon as I can