When I naively asked the above question during a very pleasant lunch with my friends, I got the following not very pleasant reactions:
“Give me a break, is having a few drinks after shopping for a couple of hours an addiction?”
“Are you telling us that having a good time is addictive?”
My response: “Okay guys, what do you expect me to do here?” Do you go away or do I explain what she was trying to say?
His response: “You’re addicted to explanations, anyway, so go ahead and clarify your statement.”
What is pleasure?
The pleasure is “A feeling of happy satisfaction and enjoyment, or an event or activity from which one derives enjoyment.”
Here is my question for you: What do you really enjoy a lot?
Videogames? Match? Drinking alcohol? Eat sugary foods? Shopping? Using street drugs? cheating on your partner? Watch TV non-stop… watch porn or horror movies?
All of the above could become addictions.
Why?
Because they give you pleasure; They stimulate the pleasure center of the brain.
Any kind of stimulation from the pleasure center releases large amounts of dopamine, which is a neurotransmitter and a neurohormone produced in the brain.
Don’t stimulate your brain’s pleasure center too often, you can wear it out! The intense and repeated release of dopamine will damage the receptors in your brain, causing them to tire of stimulation.
People really like dopamine. In the field of science, dopamine is called “the neurotransmitter of pleasure”. With adequate amounts of dopamine, we feel good, happy, and satisfied.
And what’s wrong with that? Nothing, really… except that many illegal drugs and other things that people enjoy, like the ones mentioned above, also target the brain’s pleasure receptors, releasing dopamine and contributing to possible addiction.
Addicted people engage in the dopamine release process even if they know it is bad for them.
The brain’s pleasure center can be damaged not only by overuse but from toxins or head trauma, such as well. The result is the same.
After a while, a person will need more stimulation or longer periods of intense stimulation just to release adequate amounts of dopamine. what follows this excessive use is that the pleasure center of the brain will respond less.
Translated, less sensitive simply means that the brain will produce less dopamine.
But we need dopamine, right?
Yes. However, when less dopamine is released, a person can become depressed or addicted to the original stimulus (eg, nicotine, drugs, alcohol).
At first, a person turns to “pleasure”; however, after the brain’s pleasure receptors become overused over a period of time, he or she is at risk for addiction.
In light of the information I just shared, is the question “Is pleasure an addiction?” valid? The answer is a definite “yes”, as any excessive use of pleasure can lead to addiction.
Of course, it’s important to enjoy the things you love, as that contributes to a happy and fulfilling life. However, as the saying goes, “All things in moderation.” If you keep this in mind, you will avoid the road to addiction.
