How Alcohol Companies Keep You Addicted

Now listen , you think that you drink by choice , but what if I told you that you're actually part of somebody else's strategy ? Welcome to the shocking nexus of alcohol and dopamine , where billion-dollar companies know more about your brain's addiction circuitry than you do .

And today , ladies and gentlemen , in this video , we are pulling back the curtain on the science and the schemes that keep you reaching for that very next drink . Trust me , after watching this , you will never look at the bottle the same way ever again . So stick around , because you're literally going to liberate your mind and maybe even your entire life .

So , firstly , alcohol companies have a very tough task on their hand . How exactly can you pitch a mild industrial poison like ethanol to somebody in such a way that they will happily agree to pay through the nose for it ? Well , in two words companionship and joy . Now , the next time that you see an alcohol advert on TV or in print , pay close attention .

Chances are that you'll see a group of friends happily drinking together , having a great time , lots of smiles , lots of people and beautiful surroundings . What they're never going to show you is a lonely man sipping away on his sofa in front of the TV . But sadly , that would be far more representative of these companies' actual best customers .

See , what alcohol makers do is they invert reality . They want to make you believe that the alcohol is the driving force , the catalyst that allows the average Joe to then go and have fun with his friends . Now , the truth is , people are totally capable of having a good time socially without alcohol .

Our brain is literally hardwired to derive pleasure from social interactions . As children , we literally had the best fun of our lives at countless social activities and parties , but we did it without so much as a drop of alcohol . The real reason that we drink alcohol is completely different , and you will never see it mentioned in any alcohol commercial .

And it's this . Alcohol hijacks a primeval neuronal circuit in the brain called the reward system , and it's this hijacking that leads us to happily pay through the nose for this mass-produced industrial fool that also doubles up as a mild poison and in some cases to the point of completely destroying our health and our life . Now let's unpack all of this .

So what exactly is this human reward system ? Well , there are two ways to answer this . Firstly , you can locate it in the brain . This is exactly what it looks like . Now I'm going to spare you the anatomy here For our purposes . What matters is what the brain circuit does to regulate human behavior .

Evolution designed this system to encourage us to seek out things in our environment that were beneficial to our survival and reproduction , the so-called natural reinforcers , the main ones being food , especially calorie-rich food , and sex .

The natural reinforcers are water , sleep and social interactions with loved ones All the things that were beneficial to our survival and reproduction throughout human evolution . Now , the reward system is what makes us crave and seek out things like , for example , a juicy steak or a delicious piece of fruit , or even an attractive member of the opposite sex .

It links positive emotions to these things , ensuring that we will want to experience them again and again . Of course , this system evolved many thousands of years ago , when we were living as hunter-gatherers in the savannahs of Africa .

Back then , there were no such things as ice cream , potato chips , fizzy drinks , social media or pornography , which is why there's entire multi-billion dollar industries around these products today . See , what all of these products have in common is that they hijack the human reward system .

They deliver an easily obtainable but massive supercharged reward up front , and this makes us seek out more of the same , happily shelling out more and more cash . So in the process , we ignore the damage that these evolutionary novelties are doing to our health and well-being

. Enter dopamine so the chemical that these reward areas of the brain use to communicate with each other is the neurotransmitter , dopamine . Now I should clarify that neurotransmitter is any chemical that brain cells use to actually communicate with each other .

So whenever you experience , or even anticipate experiencing , a rewarding stimulus , the reward system is activated , releasing dopamine . Compared to other neurotransmitters in the brain , dopamine is minor in terms of quantity Only around one percent of brain cells use dopamine to communicate . But don't let this one percent figure fool you .

Dopamine is critical to the normal function of our brain , our health and our happiness , and not just for the proper functioning of the reward system . A number of human diseases are , in one way or another , linked to an imbalance or dysfunction in the brain's dopamine system , the most famous ones being schizophrenia and Parkinson's disease .

Now , another area where dopamine plays a prominent role is drug abuse ? In one way or another , all drugs that can be abused recreationally stimulate the release of dopamine in the reward circuit . Some , like cocaine and amphetamines , directly activate this system .

In other words , they directly act on the dopamine containing neurons and stimulate them to release more dopamine . The brain then perceives these drugs as rewarding , leading to the person wanting more . But the drugs , however , act on the reward system indirectly . In other words , they act on remote brain regions which in turn interact with the dopamine reward system .

And alcohol is in this latter category . It works by enhancing the function of another neurotransmitter called GABA , and because GABA regulates the activity of the dopamine reward system , the end result is an increase in dopamine release , consequently activation of the reward system .

And the takeaway here is that every time you drink alcohol , you activate this reward system , tricking the brain into perceiving this mass produced industrial toxin as something rewarding and valuable to your survival .

Now , until a few years ago , scientists actually believed that the reward system and dopamine are directly responsible for the feelings of pleasure that we experience from a natural reinforcer or a recreational drug like alcohol . But in recent years they have realized that this is not exactly the case .

So scientists broadly distinguish the subjective effects of recreational drugs into two domains wanting and liking . I kid you not . These are the actual scientific terms that they use wanting and liking . New drug users typically experience both wanting and liking .

So you crave the drug , you take it , you enjoy the way it makes you feel , you want it and you like it . But as any smoker , drug or alcohol user will tell you , you can have wanting without liking .

You feel like you could almost sell your soul for one more cigarette or a shot of whiskey , and then when you actually consume it , you don't even end up enjoying it . New scientists and psychologists today they believe that dopamine is involved more with the wanting than the liking part of the alcohol equation .

So in other words , they believe that the stimulation of the dopamine reward system underlies the craving for a drink . It trains the organism to ascribe positive emotional value to the alcohol , leading to these sometimes irresistible urge to consume it . But the very mild euphoria that comes from a drink is not actually related to dopamine .

This liking is probably linked to alcohol's effect on other neurotransmitters , principally GABA and endorphins , which we've covered in other videos . So the reward system and dopamine are critical in the early phases of alcohol abuse . They are crucial in getting you hooked . Scientists have figured out this in various ways , not least of which are studies with rats .

See , rats are very handy for scientists . You can do all sorts of stuff with them that you could never get away with in humans . So the scientists put the rats in a cage where they have access to a lever that administers alcohol , typically intravenously . The rats then press the lever until they become addicted to alcohol .

Scientists found out , after surgically destroying the reward system of these rats , you actually can't go on to develop addiction to alcohol . That being said , after the rats are already hooked on it , destroying their reward system does not affect their alcohol intake . They literally stay hooked on it without a problem , even without a functioning reward system .

So it appears that dopamine is involved in giving you positive reinforcement in the early stages of drinking . This means that drinkers actively seek out the alcohol as a pleasant , positive reinforcement in and of itself . But here's the thing once you are well and truly hooked on alcohol , dopamine isn't so crucial in maintaining your addiction .

Instead , the primary motivation for drinking is negative reinforcement . In other words , you start drinking to avoid the unpleasantness that comes from not drinking . This involves different neurotransmitter systems and is a topic that will be partially covered in other videos . Now there is one problem , however .

By the time that you reach that point of negative reinforcement , your reward system is more or less fried , with knock-on effects on all aspects of your life . Now let's find out why this happens and the results . So the human brain is always striving for balance . It likes to keep things nice and neat , with entirely predefined parameters .

So when you have a few drinks , your brain gets busy trying to metabolize and expel the ethanol . It wants to get rid of it as quickly as possible and restore your natural state of equilibrium . Over time , however , the brain starts giving up . It basically decides to stop working against the alcohol and rather work with it .

What this means is that the brain eventually decreases the levels of dopamine activity within the reward system , since this part of the brain is constantly being artificially stimulated by alcohol . The brain turns down its baseline activity a notch , or rather a few notches , as a neuroscientist would say . The dopamine system becomes quote down regulated .

Scientists can measure this down regulation in various ways . This includes imaging the brains of live people with PET scans , where you see that this area lights up less in heavy drinkers compared to non-drinkers . Another method is looking at brain slices from deceased heavy drinkers .

When you examine these tissue slices , you find that their concentration of dopamine molecules is decreased , along with the number of actual dopamine receptors . These receptors are the protein structures on the surface of the brain cells to which dopamine molecules bind . It's through these receptors that dopamine activates the brain cells receiving the dopamine signal .

So with fewer dopamine molecules chasing fewer receptors to activate , the end of result is a substantial decrease in dopamine activity within the reward system . This down regulation has a substantial impact on basically every aspect of the drinker's life . The topic is too large to cover in for here , so I'm just going to look at the two most important manifestations .

Firstly , it's a decreased sensitivity to natural reinforcers . Sometimes you will find neuroscientists calling this reward dysregulation . Remember what we said earlier on when I first introduced you to the concept of the reward system .

Well , the system is there to successfully process naturally pleasurable stimuli , the kinds that were present during the brain's evolution food , water , sex , sleep , relations with loved ones .

Now , the characteristics of these natural reinforcers , apart from the fact that they are well good for you , is that , a there is a process to acquiring them , and B the reinforcement you get is measured . Alcohol has neither of these two characteristics . It's an instantaneous reward . It's as simple as pouring yourself a measure of Scotch and gulping it down .

You don't have to actually go out and hunt or collect roots like our ancestors did , or you don't have to put in any effort , for example , in maintaining a loving sexual relationship with your partner . That will get you more sex Instead , the alcohol is right there for the taking , basically 24-7 .

Not only that , but the reinforcement it gives is more or less instant and abnormally powerful . So , depending on how much you drink , you can stimulate the reward system much more powerfully than natural reinforcers could . The result is that the brain is eventually trained to assign less value to natural reinforcers .

The booze literally crowds out natural reinforcers out of the reward system . Now , pet imaging studies of chronic drinkers are very revealing in this respect . Compared to non-drinkers or recovered heavy drinkers , their reward system lights up less when presented with natural reinforcers like food or erotic images of the opposite sex .

In contrast , their reward system is activated more when presented with alcohol-related cues , like the photo of an alcoholic beverage . I don't know about you , but I can't think of anything more depressing than this .

Literally , a life where you derive lower levels of pleasure from such great things , literally all , to keep consuming a drug that gives you ever diminishing levels of pleasure in and of itself Literally a destroyed reward system to go hand in hand with a destroyed body .

As bad as reward dysregulation is , things can get even worse after you stop drinking , and especially during the early phases of withdrawal from the drug , when the artificial boost to the dopamine system is removed and down regulation is then exposed . Scientists call the resulting phenomenon and hedonia .

It's a two-part term and meaning without an hedoni meaning pleasure , so a complete or partial inability to derive pleasure from things . One researcher defined it as quote a loss of interest or pleasure in almost all usual activities and pastimes .

An hedonia was first observed in clinically depressed people as well as those with schizophrenia , but it's also very common among chronic drug abusers , including drinkers , and in heavily addicted individuals who stop consuming the drug . It becomes almost universal . Psychologists break it down into two components .

Firstly , motivational , and hedonia is when the person has no desire to engage in activities that they once found enjoyable and consummatory . An hedonia is when the person actually engages in the activity but they get little to no pleasure from it . In recovering heavy drinkers , the an hedonia phase will typically last a few weeks .

Then the brain will slowly start to recover and the an hedonia will go away , which brings us on to the final topic in today's video Restoring your reward system after you stop drinking . So what about the recovery after drinking ? Well , there is no treatment for a hypo-functioning reward system .

Pharmaceutical companies haven't yet come up with a pill that you can pop and magically restore your dopamine levels after chronic alcohol abuse , and the only remedy is time .

Just like your reward system got gradually dysregulated with alcohol over time , it will gradually recover once you stop drinking , and the good news is that , with enough time , the reward system will make an almost complete recovery , often back to its pre-drinking levels .

The recovering drinker will one day notice that for the first time in years , they're enjoying things again , something simple such as riding a bicycle or playing with their child . Whilst this process naturally plays out , the recovering drinker can be supported by specific types of psychotherapy , called activation therapy .

This is a very practical , hands-on type of treatment . The person works together with their therapist to slowly reintroduce positive , formally rewarding activities in their life , things like trying out a new restaurant , exercising , socializing and

so on . As Thomas Jefferson famously said , there is not a truth existing which I fear or would wish unknown to the whole world .

And when it comes to your reward system and alcohol , the truth is this Though , for all practical intents and purposes , your reward system will eventually rebound back to its pre-drinking levels , some changes can never be completely undone , and the most striking symptom of this is what will happen if you ever have so much as just one drink .

Scientists aren't exactly sure how , but even after years , after decades of abstinence , the reward system of recovered drinkers will process the drink in a completely different way to non-drinkers .

The reinforcement that they derive from that one drink will be immense , and their alcohol-seeking behavior will come back with a vengeance , just like that , and all the years of sobriety will then count for nothing . In a very subtle but irreversible way , you can always be a tiny bit different from somebody who never drank .

Thanks for checking out the Stop Drinking podcast by Sober Clear . If you want to learn more about how we work with people to help them stop drinking effortlessly , then make sure to visit wwwsoberclearcom .