Neuroplasticity Helps Us Recover (E46)
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Gill discusses neuroplasticity. She explains what neuroplasticity is, how this affects addiction and recovery, what the purpose of dopamine is, and parts of the brain that are key for coping with stress and staying sober. You’ll learn more about how neuroplasticity affects our ability to stay sober and to learn new methods of dealing with stress.
Key Takeaways
Neuroplasticity is the brain’s ability to adapt to our current circumstances, create new pathways and abandon unused ones. Our experiences, thoughts, emotions, and behaviors influence the way our brain works, and strengthens or weakens pathways based on what we do.
The problem is alcohol and other drugs release a huge amount of dopamine into the nucleus accumbens, causing the brain to form memories that alcohol or drugs are good for us. We form powerful associations between experiences and feelings and drinking. Since there’s a ton of dopamine, much more than anything else you’ve experienced, the brain believes that drinking must be very important for you and this causes the brain to file it away as something that’s a high priority to obtain.
The ventromedial prefrontal cortex (vmPFC) is a portion of the prefrontal cortex that regulates and inhibits our response to emotions. A 2016 study found that people who used active coping skills had more vmPFC plasticity, and less plasticity was associated with negative coping strategies like emotional eating, binge drinking, and more arguments or fights. One 2010 study found that disruption of the vvmPFC during stress predicts relapse and failed recovery. Childhood trauma, adversity, a history of mood disorders, and PTSD are all associated with weakened vmPFC activation during emotion or stress exposure.
Sources
Neuroplasticity and the Recovering Brain. Alta Mira Recovery. 2018.
Sinha, R. et al. Dynamic brain stress response and resilient coping. PNAS. 2016, 113 (31) 8837-8842
O'Brien CP. Neuroplasticity in addictive disorders. Dialogues Clin Neurosci. 2009;11(3):350-353.
Cite this episode
Tietz, G. Episode 46: Neuroplasticity Helps Us Recover. Sober Powered. 2021.
