Addicted America

 We’re a nation of addicts. Would you care to dispute it?

Despite a proliferation of treatment options in America, addictive behavior and unhealthy coping strategies are more common than ever. Here's why.

Recent studies confirm a shocking reality: When it comes to dealing with personal problems, we use an external fix. To establish equilibrium we use drugs - our first impulse is to seek out a quick and external source, which becomes both the cause of our problems, and the solution.

” Dopamine is the neurotransmitter triggered by “rewarding events.” These pleasurable moments may occur naturally, but they are also the direct result of specific drugs, such as cocaine, methamphetamine or nicotine. 

While we may admire the American impulse to applaud hard work, innovation, and daring, the rewards of these labors aren't immediate. We’re an impatient nation; we seek more immediate gratification. We’ve come to accept an approach of “why wait?”, so we grab ahold of whatever it takes to feel better, to keep feeling better, to make it through the day.

In our addicted culture, we go for the artificially-induced dopamine spike—and not just one, but one right after the next.


Roughly one in ten Americans is currently an illicit drug user;
nearly one quarter of American adults engage in binge drinking, many on a regular basis; and many of those with problem drug or alcohol use do not seek treatment for their problems. 

If we broaden the criteria that we use in thinking about addiction to include unhealthy coping mechanisms and other “ways-to-get-through-the-day”—we face staggering results. For one, most Americans have lost their ability to eat normally, with two-thirds of the nation’s adults meeting the definition of obese. As another example, approximately one out of every five American women is on an anti-depressant.

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How is it that we’ve wrapped ourselves in the fuzzy dopamine blanket of substance misuse, prescription medication, compulsive eating, celebrity worship, compulsive shopping, internet addiction, video gaming, and compulsive sexual behavior?

Here’s one reason: these external fixes are readily available, and every addiction fuels somebody else's craving—for cash. The alcohol industry takes in over $100 billion a year; Big Tobacco earns $35 billion. Gambling, pornography, prostitution, and texting all add fuel to our country's dopamine fire.

Using substance to "take the edge off" can slide into something more dangerous. Others end up in another kind of distorted dependence, finding that it's easier to move your onscreen avatar through the world than to actually navigate it on your own.

As a country we’re being instructed that continuous synthetic  “adjustment” is the norm - in other words, there’s a pill for whatever ails you: ADHD, shyness, erectile dysfunction, fibromyalgia—you name it. Of course, abuse of these drugs is rising from anxiety medications to pain pills. But the problem is more insidious.

We’re so addicted to food that we literally have to seek surgical intervention to staple our stomachs in order to control our weight. Technologies allow us to seemingly be everywhere at once, but we’re never quite “right here now.”

These same devices create a state of continuous partial attention. We’re so busy attending to our screens and keys, so dependent on the next little dopamine surge that comes in the form of a text, that we turn our eyes from the road and accidents are growing in record numbers.

 Dopamine is naturally generated from any number of physical and emotional sources. The accumulation of externally generated dopamine, however, creates a vicious cycle of relief- seeking that ultimately spirals out of control.



We need to start dealing with the real problems.

Original article from Richard Juman is a licensed clinical psychologist who has worked in the field of addiction for over 25 years, providing direct clinical care, supervision, program development and administration across multiple settings. A specialist in geriatric care and organizational change, he is also the president of the New York State Psychological Association. Email him here, and follow his tweets at @richardjuman.