Dopamine is two faced.
It has no allegiances other than to whatever it wants the most....
This is good news, because you can and do want different things. If you are reading this, then you clearly don’t want to be drinking. But also, you do want to drink because you do. So we have an interesting conflict arise where the dopamine circuits appear to be in direct competition with one another. Essentially, the winner is determined by whichever one is stronger, although what exactly defines strength in terms of dopaminergic desires is complex. Time, place, energy levels, environment, people… it’s difficult to know exhaustively the factors in play. Observation of yourself, your behaviour, and the machinations of these competing desires will help you to understand how they operate. Awareness is the first step toward change, and just like a muscle, you can exercise and strengthen the desires that are healthy, and leave the undesirable ones to atrophy.
The part of your “want” mode that wants to stop is already on the ascendancy. You really want to stop, and the dopamine is what’s compelling you to keep reading. And it will continue to propel you forward because you want it. From here, you just need to accumulate enough knowledge and experience to overcome the other desire.
-THE TWO CIRCUITS
Before we move on to look at the conscious and subconscious minds, it’s crucial to understand that the dopamine circuit comprises two sequential, but different circuits. Each of these circuits performs a different role in the act of getting something. Understanding this structure helps us to weaponise the dopamine system against itself and puts us in a position of strength moving forward.
The first of the two circuits is called the dopamine desire circuit. The desire circuit is the portion of the dopamine system that involuntarily fires in response to some kind of stimuli. (We will consider this circuit a subset of involuntary behaviour the subconscious mind.) When the desire circuit activates, the associated dopamine draws your attention, focuses the mind, and produces desire for a particular object or outcome. It has no plan about how to get whatever it has set its eyes on: it just stimulates pure desire for whatever it is.
In terms of competing desires, a weighing process takes place. The relative weight of conflicting desires at any one point depends on the wider context and a variety of factors as discussed previously.
One of the two desires out competes the other, and the scales tip in favour of that particular desire. The winning desire is then fed to the second circuit.
The second circuit is known as the dopamine control circuit. Once the desire has been stimulated, the job of the control circuit—again powered by dopamine—is to work out how to get results, how to maximise those results, whether it’s worth it in the first place, and if so, what is it worth to get there. It thinks, identifies obstacles and accomplices, strategises, plans, and implements whatever it deems to be the best course of action. (We will consider this circuit a subset of voluntary behaviour or the conscious mind.)
The following image illustrates this process: the dominant desire circuit decides what it wants and instructs the subservient control circuit to go and do its bidding.
You can think of the desire circuit like a child who sees a new toy advertised on TV. They identify it as something they simply must have, even though it costs a fortune. They are going to keep pestering their parents relentlessly to try and get what they want. The parents (the control circuit) not wanting to upset the child because they have been well behaved recently, will look into whether they can afford it, where they can get it cheapest, whether there are any discount codes available, and so on. If they can make it happen then they’ll execute and get the toy. If the cost is too high, or the sacrifice elsewhere is too great, they’ll back out and deal with the child nagging. A nagging child is easier to deal with than Child Protection Services knocking at your door to find out why you are sending your child to school with no shoes.
If the desire circuit decides that it wants to drink more than not, the control circuit goes to work to make it happen: Where can I buy alcohol? Do I need money? How can I get there? And so on. If the desire circuit decides it doesn’t want to drink more than it does, it goes to work to make that happen instead: Where can I get help? What excuse can I give not to go to my best friend’s birthday party? How do I get to sleep without a drink? And so on.
So, that's basically what's happening. And for now that's all...
But before I go, remember: working on sobriety is an iterative process. We never fail, only learn. Be kind to yourself and never give up.
Marky
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