What is Addiction? [Gabor Maté]

Video

“Passion creates, addiction consumes.”

“Not all addictions are rooted in abuse or trauma, but I do believe they can all be traced to painful experience. A hurt is at the centre of all addictive behaviours. It is present in the gambler, the Internet addict, the compulsive shopper and the workaholic. The wound may not be as deep and the ache not as excruciating, and it may even be entirely hidden—but it’s there. As we’ll see, the effects of early stress or adverse experiences directly shape both the psychology and the neurobiology of addiction in the brain.”

Born to buy

“We’ve become lost in this modern landscape living to consume. Consumerism isn’t a conspiracy , it is a very much a reflection of human mind and this is why we find it so comforting. When you’ve got an emptiness inside you that is basically insatiable because you never dealt with the real cause of that emptiness and as with any addiction you keep on stuffing that emptiness full of stuff that can’t satisfy you.”

The impact of the subconscious mind on a person’s behavior.

Colette Baron-Reid and Dr. Joe Dispenza have a conversation about the impact of the subconscious mind on a person’s behavior.

“what the neocortex loves to do is to gather information….and every time you learn something new you make a new synaptic connection in your thinking brain. That’s what learning is. Learning is forging new connections and every time you learn something new your brain physically changes.”