For 30 years I have been contending that unlearning beliefs will change behavior, including addictive behavior. Despite the fact that many thousands of people have made radical behavioral changes as a result of eliminating beliefs, I continue to get emails from people who state: “There is clear scientific evidence that addictions are biophysical. They are the result of chemical responses and conditionings. Getting rid of a few beliefs can’t possibly cure addictions.”
Well, a recent scientific study concluded, “… cognitive beliefs could be as potent as pharmacological interventions in terms of modifying biophysical processes in the brain and changing behavior in addicted individuals.” The author’s contend that manipulating a person’s beliefs about an addictive substance may be one avenue for treating addiction.
—-http://medicalxpress.com/news/2015-01-belief-important-biochemistry-addiction.html
In other words, the study suggests that when you are dealing with addiction, belief is as important as biochemistry.
The new study by Xiaosi Gu and Terry Lohrenz from Virginia Tech Carilion Research Institute shows that cognitive beliefs play a significant role in a person’s neurological response to an addictive substance and that belief can diminish the neurological effects of an addictive drug. Their research is reported in The Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.
The study’s Abstract concludes: “… beliefs can override the physical presence of a potent neuroactive compound like nicotine. …The implications of these findings may be far ranging because belief-dependent effects on learning signals could impact a host of other behaviors in addiction as well as in other mental health problems.”
Correlation is not cause
We need to be careful about assuming, just because a study (or some other type of evidence) shows a physical correlate for a mental activity, that the cause of the activity is the physical correlate.
For example, a study conducted a few years ago did show that MRIs of depressed people were different from the MRIs of “normal” people. The study went on to describe, however, how after a few months of cognitive behavioral therapy the brain of the depressed people looked “normal.”
In other words, it is more likely that the patient’s mental state caused both the “normal” and “abnormal” brain structures than an abnormal brain structure produced depression.
So just because addictive people (be they emotional eaters, alcoholics, or drug abusers) have specific chemical reactions in the body, doesn’t mean that the cause of the addiction is the chemical reactions.
I agree that there are very real physical activities in the body that accompany addiction. I also contend (and have lots of case histories to demonstrate) that regardless of all these physical activities, when the relevant beliefs and conditionings have been eliminated, the addiction will be also.
Thanks for reading my blog. Please share your thoughts about the relative importance of beliefs in overcoming physical addictions. Disagreement is as welcome as agreement. Your comments add value for thousands of readers. I love to read them all and I will respond to as many as I can.
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If you haven’t yet eliminated at least one of your limiting self-esteem beliefs using the Lefkoe Belief Process, go to our interactive online belief-unlearning program where you can unlearn several limiting beliefs free.
You also can find out about Natural Confidence, an interactive digital program that enables you to unlearn 19 of the most common beliefs, which cause some of the most common behavioral and emotional problems that plague us.
Copyright © 2015 Morty Lefkoe
One more amazing article on this blog. Thanks for sharing.
Hi Morty,
I noticed within me there’s 3 pacts within me. A pact for worthlessness, for being pathetic, for being evil. Do you deal with this ?
Thanks Morty – interesting piece – I have been working with a client with a gambling addiction and mainly removing underlying beliefs that have resulted in him having poor self esteem and feeling of shame and worthlessness. Have also started setting some new goals with him and having him recognize his accomplishments to date – competent sportsperson, top salesperson
– thanks for the blog – Barbara
Wow, thanks Morty for the awesome piece.
Hello,
I am a mother of a young man who has ben dignosis with shizoprenia and is under CLOZAPINE since October. In February he had a operation on his brain cuase he had an abces ..
I am interesting in your therapy because Alex does not receive any therapy. yesterday we were with his paychiatrics who telles me to let my son do what ever he want’s… A is addicted to CIGARETTES, more then a package a day, addicted to SUGAR he drink’s more 2lts of Cola and as if that is not enough he then takes a glass of water with 3 spoons of white sugar…. and also he is addicted to HARD MUSIC
I did ask his psychiatric for a Cognitive Behavior terapy, he answer was no, you just want to put cherries on a cake that has never been made!!!!
I live in Montreal Quebec Canada Is there any way you can refer me to someone in here?
VERY MUCH ENJOY YOUR INSIGHTS AND METHODS ELIMINATING DISTORTED BELIEFS AND INSTALLING HEALTHY REALITY TESTING WITH AFFIRMATIVE SELF-CONCEPTS! RESPECTFULLY, I DISAGREE WITH YOUR COMPARISON OF THE BRAIN CHANGES FROM ELIMINATING DERPRESSIVE COGNITIONS WITH METABOLIC, STRUCTURAL ALTERATIONS FROM CHRONIC ALCOHOLISM THAT NO REPUTABLE RESEARCH HAS EVER DEMONSTRATED AS REVERSABLE DUE TO THE EFFECTS OF PYSCHOTHERAPY COGNITIVE OR OTHERWISE!! CHANGING SELF-SABOTAGING BELIEFS THAT PERPETUATE ADDICTIVE DRINKING OF COURSE ARE ESSENTIAL TO HELP THE CONVERSION PROCESS OF, ” LETTING GO OF EGOTISTICAL CONTROL EFFORTS TO ATTAIN CONTROLED DRINKING” AN ACKNOWLEDGE IT’S UNCONTROLABLE NATURE! THAT IS AN ESSENTIAL BELIEF TO TRANSFORM!
YES, ALTERING DISTORTED BELIEFS FROM CHILDHOOD OF “NOT BEING GOOD ENOUGH, NOT LOVABLE, NOT DESERVING ARE CORE BELIEFS TO BE ALTERED AS WELL! YET, NO RESEARCH HAS EVER DEMONSTRATED ANY MORE THAN A CORRELATION (AS YOU DISTINGUISH CAUSE FROM CORRELATION) THAT THE PRESENCE OR ABSENCE OF SUCH BELIEFS “CAUSES” ALCOHOLISM”!! TO BE SURE, THEY CONTRIBUTE TO RELAPSE AND NEED TO BE RESOLVED! YOUR READERS INDICATE THEY MADE A DECISION TO LIVE WITHOUT PRACTICING THEIR ADDICTION. THAT DECISION, HOWEVER ARRIVED AT, IS LIFE-CHANGING AND IS PREDICATED ON
A SURRENDER TO THE REALITY THAT CONTROLLED DRINKING IS NO LONGER AN OPTION!
THAT IS THE BELIEF-THE BELIEF THAT DOES EFFECT THE REST OF THEIR BELIEFS THAT IS CRITICAL FOR RECOVERY! YOU MISGUIDE YOUR FOLLOWERS INTO BELLIEVING THAT CHANGING PERSONAL, NEGATIVE BELIEFS IS WHAT WILL “CAUSE” THEM TO RECOVER. WITHOUT DEALING WITH THE OVERIDING REALITY THAT THE DISTORTED BELIEF ON “CONTROLED DRINKING” IS WHAT NEEDS TO BE ELIMINATED, YOU FOSTER FALSE HOPE AND FEED INTO THE DELUSION OF “MIND OVER MATTER” AS CONTRASTED WITH MINDFULNESS OF WHAT MATTERS!! OUR BODIES, ESPECIALLY IN ADDICTION, NEED TO BE RESPECTED FOR HOW WE HAVE “EMBODIED” THEM WITH OUR MINDFUL WAY OF LIVING! THE EFFECTS, AS FAR AS ADDICTION ARE CONCERNED ARE IRREVERSABLE! THAT IS WHY SURRENDERING TO THAT ONE
REALITY IS AN ESSENTIAL BELIEF THAT DOES EMPOWER MASTERY IN RECOVERY! THAT IS THE PARADOX OF RECOVERY! PLEASE INCORPORATE THIS CONSTRUCT INTO THE VERY HELPFUL PROGRAMS YOU DEVELOP! THE BEST TO YOU! -DD.
Thank you for having a (big) “clue” about so many of life’s normal things we are better off being informed about –
Instead of simply wondering or giving it little consideration.
I know a man who has had many personalities over the years & each one has its benefits in his attempt to continue surviving in spite of serious health issues.
As each personality flips, the physical symptoms subside that was torturing him, his different addictions change along with the personalities.
Sometimes within minutes of each other, the personality changes due to a combination of factors, & situations.
Each personality is a “different” body – & each prescription drug or alcohol use causes a chance of that person “exiting” & another taking over. In his early 50’s his actual physical body is on its last efforts to survive.
When his liver cancer is overwhelming, he may suddenly be the guy that works in his vegetable garden, & is OK for a few hours. If a neighbor brings him a cold beer, he suddenly is the one that is not very kind, & with great frustration & sickly, when only moments before, he was the content gardener. Other body organs & parts seem to kick in working a little bit longer & better for a while as each personality tries unconsciously to keep himself alive.
The guys do not know each other,s behavior. He is a genius in that he can repair vehicles on the spot with makeshift tool, repair appliances, ran a bucket truck crew in a very large city, running cable everywhere even across many traffic lands, he has lots of common sense most of the time, & a good heart. I wish his life could carry on in one of the “good” guys with a once beautifully working body & be happy & healthy. Your methods would likely not be accepted by him since mostly he self sabatages.
Thank you for this post. It makes life very interesting to learn how common miracles are, when people like you shine some light on subjects we do not understand as well as you do.
With much respect for you Morty,
Leigh Ann Reedy
Wow Morty, your posts never cease to amaze me. As a student of for a BA degree in psychology, I hear about tons of studies about addiction that only take biochemistry into consideration, completely ignoring the possible cognitive and behavioral causes of addictions.
As I know for a fact, through experience, that behavior changes radically after a couple beliefs and conditionings had been eliminated, I can definitely understand that it’ll be effective in getting rid of addictions.
Love, Almog.
It comes down to the core belief: “I am lacking. I am bad.” This belief creates so much pain and misery that we all have to medicate it with addictions.
How did we get this sick core belief?
Simple. When a parent wants to control a child, they tell the child he is bad. Whereas saying, don’t throw that iphone around may get little notice from a 3 year old… telling that same child “put that iphone down you are bad” wounds them in such a way that they probably will not do it again. I’ve seen these soul destroying words used over and over again on little children. They don’t have the wisdom to not believe such things and grow up believing they are fundamentally bad because of some of their actions just like their parents told them.
Once you root the belief, “I am bad,” in a child’s consciousness before the age of 4, you are looking at what for most people will be a lifetime of emotional pain and misery and belief in their innate worthlessness and badness.
It should be the worst crime in society because it is at the root of all other crimes, yet at this time in human evolution it is considered normal and even wonderful child rearing.
Steven- That is a brilliant response, and I’m glad that you have had the courage to write it down, thank you so much (and this is coming from a guy who has spent most of his twenties addicted to gaming and other addictions, and as a result, throwing his life away). I’m now focusing on listening (and trusting) my intuition, and building my self-esteem, so that the issues get smaller and smaller every day.
And for the rest of this post, thanks again to Morty and for the rest of the commentators for providing a great, thought-provoking (and hopefully, healing) blog post and discussion.
Keep up the good work;-)
“when the relevant beliefs and conditionings have been eliminated, the addiction will be also.”
I have been sober for 11 years. I stopped drinking cold turkey when, after a serious health crisis, I decided that I was lucky to be alive and that if I didn’t stop drinking it would eventually kill me.
Prior to that I had been drinking since I was in my teens and my Dad let me have my first glass of wine during a special family meal. Probably Christmas. I don’t recall.
I guess I drank heavily, although never to the point of being a “drunk”, usually a bottle of wine every day. I was also a smoker but I stopped that, also cold turkey, about 15 years ago.
When I look back at my life now I see how my drinking often affected my judgement and the decisions I made. I also see where I was probably addicted to sex and drugs for a period of several years. I stopped the drugs and unfortunately more recently the sex has been sparse. That part wasn’t my plan. :-)
And finally I remained in a relationship which made me unhappy for far too long. With some help I was able to correct that situation over a year ago and now I am on my own.
So, without thinking too much about it, I “assume” that I have a kind of addictive personality problem that also lead me to some physically addicting substances.
Reading this blog has been a revelation. The fact that I was able to stop drinking and smoking without going through a painful process or program, without “falling off the wagon”, would seem to indicate that while I was presumably physically addicted my mental state allowed me to somehow “turn off the switch” of those addictions.
So my questions are :
How do you determine the relevant beliefs and conditionings that need to be eliminated?
How can you be sure that you have found and eliminated all of them before you try a substance you have managed to overcome?
It could be reckless and dangerous to try one belief at a time and hope to find the right one(s). I would love to be able to have a glass of wine again but I fear that I will afraid to try.
I thought that kind of thing was established.
If you force a rat to consume Cocaine to the point of addiction, and then give him a choice whether to continue that addiction, his choice depends on his environment. If you put him in a place with lots of food and freedom, he’ll AVOID the cocaine.
I think its pretty clear that humans are the same, save that 69% (illustrative not scientific percentage!) of our environment is in our heads. Maybe more! So if you put us in a heavenly mind-state, we likely won’t use the joy-drugs.
I once had to cut down my binge eating for financial reasons. Best month of the decade – because I had to stop ‘working on my problems’ – worrying over old traumas – in order to have any hope of succeeding.
Morty… another interesting and thought-provoking article, thank you so much. I would be interested in reading a post about behavioral addiction, such as addiction to sex, shopping or gambling. Thanks!
I wish I could stop my addiction to eat when I don’t need to.
Pretty sure Morty has a process for that one!
I fully concur with your observations. I have been working with people with various addictions for the past 20 years and in every case there are two or three limiting beliefs that keep the person from letting go the addictive patterns. When there beliefs are changed at their origin (child) then and only then can one be free, otherwise its a one day at a time battle.