There seems to be a theme developing here – yesterday’s featured image was of a clown on the beach at Calais with a plastic bottle of wine! This clown has travelled, even as far as Blackpool. Twice. The first time was to attend a conference and the second time to experience the famous illuminations with my daughters. Ten kilometres of illuminated kitsch and more than a million bulbs – and we ain’t talking daffodils here. But it is all great fun, and Blackpool has for many years attracted thrill seekers and hedonists. Which leads me to today’s topic – pleasure.
There are many reasons why people develop problems with their use of alcohol or other drugs, or become addicted to sex or gambling. There are complex interactions between genetic factors or vulnerabilities and the experiences of life as it unfolds over the years. It is the classic nature vs nurture debate, genotype vs phenotype. But at some point in this journey there has to be pleasure. It could be the taste of a good wine or beer, or the squiffiness that comes after a couple of drinks, or the social milieu, or the abandonment and disinhibition that comes with a lot of drinking. It could the the escape from bad feelings or memories, or even the switching off or anesthetising of emotions – and of chronic pain.
It is a fundamental tenet of learning theory that behaviour which results in something pleasurable or takes away something unpleasant will tend to be repeated – i.e. reinforced. And very helpfully our brains have provided the apparatus for this to happen! It is key to survival and can be found throughout the animal kingdom. The mechanisms reside in the oldest part of our brain – and the brains of fish and amphibians – known as the limbic system. I explain this is in a bit more detail in my Everything Emotional workshop.
To return to clowns. The featured image is a schematic representation of the the key areas in the limbic system. These areas form what is known as the pleasure circuitry. (The same regions are involved in our experience of punishment, but are not so well understood). You can see that arrows show the inputs and outputs of these areas, conducted by a range of neurotransmitters (chemical messengers). Some inputs have an inhibitory effect on the system and some have an excitatory effect – i.e. reducing and increasing activity respectively. DA is dopamine, GABA is gamma-aminobutyric acid, and 5-HT is 5-hydroxytryptamine (more commonly known as serotonin). Dopamine plays a major role in this circuit, forming the final common pathway to our experience of pleasure – be it from sex, chocolate, gambling, drinking, taking drugs or getting likes on social media. All drugs of misuse find their final expression in this system.
So, for a Saturday night, that is all I wanted to say. For your weekend, do whatever you need to do to light up those million little dopamine bulbs, as long as you are safe. Keep well and there will be more tomorrow.
Alcohol Trivia Quiz
Yesterday’s answers:
1. It is the process of adding sugar during the fermentation of wine to increase the alcohol yield.
2. Frank Sinatra – you could be sure he would do it his way.
3. Flutes and coupes.
Today’s questions:
1. What is pomace?
2. Who wrote “The Grapes of Wrath”?
3. Who was the Roman god of wine?
Understand Yourself Better 