Ep. 90: Neuroscience, Social Isolation and Addiction
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Marc Lewis, neuroscientist, former opiate addict and author of Memoirs of an Addicted Brain, believes that addiction rates increased recently because lockdowns deprived people of the physical proximity to loved ones that the brain finds so nourishing. Here, he explores his thesis with Medcan’s clinical director of mental health, Dr. Jack Muskat, in a wide-ranging conversation about the nature of addiction, the neurological benefits of hugs and physical affection—and the unintended consequences of pandemic restrictions.
Check out Marc Lewis on LinkedIn and Twitter, and read his bio.
Lewis's 2015 book is: The Biology of Desire: Why Addiction Is Not A Disease.
Lewis's 2012 book is: Memoirs of an Addicted Brain: A Neuroscientist Examines his Former Life on Drugs
Here’s the link to Marc Lewis’ blog post about addiction and COVID lockdowns, and here’s the main link to his blog, Understanding Addiction.
Watch Marc Lewis’ 2013 TEDx Talk on addiction and trust here.
Read this The Guardian article by David Shariatmadari to learn more about Marc Lewis’ life and experiences with addiction, or this CNN article by Maggie Fox that explores how drug overdose deaths in 2020 hit the highest number ever recorded.
More on the Internal Family systems therapeutic model.
Check out some scientific research on addiction, such as a 2021 study published in Nature Medicine about the conceptualization of addiction as a brain disease and the criticism around it, or a 2020 study about COVID-19 and addiction, published in Diabetology & Metabolic Syndrome.
INSIGHTS
In the rush to institute COVID lockdowns, Marc Lewis says “the need for social connection was overlooked for an almost obsessive attunement to the disease.” We tried to replace physical proximity to loved ones with social media and Zoom, but it didn’t work. “The actual presence of other people—proximal, real flesh and blood people that you can feel and touch and hug and smell— is really important,” says Lewis. [02:21]
Lewis’ research indicates that it’s not who you are, but what happens to you that determines how likely you are to become addicted to something. “There is no addiction gene cluster. It’s how well you fit with your surround,” says Lewis. In his experience as a psychotherapist, Lewis estimates that more than 90 per cent of his patients with addiction problems have histories of trauma. [14:53]
Addiction wasn’t considered a problem until the 20th century, when addicts were labeled as “sinners,” “weak” and “self-indulgent.” The 1980s and 90s introduced the disease model of addiction, which removed the blame from the addict but still connected them inherently to their “disease.” “It’s a way of thinking that makes the problem intrinsic to the person,” says Lewis. [19:09]
In contrast, Lewis uses the Internal Family Systems (IFS) model of therapy when he treats addiction patients. IFS identifies the part of the addict that wants to get high as one component of a greater whole. “There’s a particular part of me that when I get upset enough, scared enough, depressed enough, this part knows how to fix that with drugs, booze, or whatever else,” says Lewis. [21:35]
When people become addicted, it is often because they are trying to cope with problems or stress in their lives. According to Lewis, we have become too preoccupied with treating our issues as disorders or diseases. “We don’t all need to be running to the drugstore to deal with things that humans have suffered with forever,” says Lewis. Treating, and warding off, addictive behaviours is complex, but one thing that helps is developing a network of loving friends and family, with which one maintains frequent, physical contact. [27:35]