Picture three people in a room. One is eating, one is reading, and one is injecting heroin. What would you say if i told you all three were engaging in the same basic activity?
For this to make sense, one has to accept the following premise - every human you've ever met has been in about fourteen different kinds of pain, of which he or she is conscious of maybe three. The society humans have constructed over the past ten thousand years has strayed so very far from our most basic nature, that you have never met a healthy human. If you met one such, you might be amused or shocked, but you wouldn't recognize yourself in this creature. It is only through layers of rationalization and denial that modern humans are able to function at all. There is compelling biological, archaeological, and other scientific evidence to support this premise. This article is about none of those.
This article is about behavioral evidence.
This article is about escape.
How does a creature in pain respond? By trying to make it stop. If that proves impossible, the creature will try to escape that pain as much as they can.
If you step back and look at behavior objectively, you'll suddenly see around you a world of humans who are trying to escape reality virtually every single day of our lives.
This isn't about obvious escapes, like a flophouse full of strung-out addicts. This is about a universe of behaviors that affect our brains in the same way as "drugs". This is about adrenaline. Stimulants and sedatives. Dopamine and endorphins. I won't insult your intelligence by listing the things in this world that might render one anxious or depressed. I won't ask what percentage of people know that their most basic life-sustaining and intimacy needs, will always be met.
Or even met tomorrow.
Here are the ways that humanity is in a constant state of trying to flee this planet. And here are the drug realities that underlie them all.
FOOD
Oh, what a surprise - when we eat sugar, fat, or salt, our bodies powerfully reward us with feel-good brain chemicals (dopamine, a neurotransmitter with a hotline to the brain's pleasure center, and opioids, psychoactive chemicals which induce a feeling of euphoria). Chocolate and spicy foods promote the release of endorphins (neurotransmitters that reduce sensations of pain). You know the line about food not being love? In terms of brain chemistry, that's a lie - food IS love. Even though culinary highs pale in comparison with an orgasm or first kiss, no cookie ever made someone feel rejected or worthless. Food isn't love? I'm sure everyone's gotten that memo - but it seems a whole lot of people aren't impressed. And i won't even go into caffeine, other than to say thank you America, but i've avoided the amphetamine-style monkey you offered me as a child. Nine out of ten people aren't so lucky, but them's the breaks.
ADRENALINE
"Adrenaline junkies". So often the truth slips out in moments of glibness. All those testosterone-filled types chasing highs in unimpeachably legal ways. Get those dudes on a commercial! Um, except for the gamblers, that's not so macho. Adrenaline is a hormone that causes a rise in heart rate and body glucose. It constricts blood vessels and dilates air passages, making us hyper-responsive to stimuli. Any chance that under conditions like those we'll remember our miserable love lives or unpaid bills? No, we didn't think so. Get us a parachute/snowmobile/motorbike/bungee/four-wheeler/gun-with-one-bullet, stat!
RELIGION
Does religion feel good? Yes. Does it take us out of ourselves? Great googily, yes! How much further outside your own reality could you get than focusing on an invisible creature with the power to do ANYTHING? Do not underestimate god. Neurologically-speaking, for a believer, god (or its childhood equivalent, the imaginary friend) is just as real as any living being...which can obviously be immeasurably rewarding, given that each believer exercises complete control over god's identity inside their heads! On a more basic level, here is what religious thought does to the brain - it renders the anterior singulated cortex (the part of the brain that controls anxiety) less active. That sounds nice. Just be careful with this drug. Long-term faith has been linked to atrophy of the hippocampus, which can lead to depression and Alzheimer's.
HUNTING & SHOPPING
I put these two together because of the ridiculousness (but also, sadly, accuracy) in the stereotype of the old couple - she can't understand his obsession with hunting or fishing, and he can't understand the unending hours she spends shopping. Yes, mensaites, it's actually the same activity. Dopamine production is similarly stimulated in both. On a good day, both activities add adrenaline to the mix. Hunters are accused of being insensitive to the animals they slaughter, but if that were literally true, hunting would be far less popular. Indeed, it is the subconscious awareness that prey animals think and feel in much the same way as us, that makes hunting attractive. Put another way, if hunters knew that their prey were emotionless machines, many would become bored. The awareness that prey think and feel makes hunters relate to them, because hunters can imagine being hunted. It is this identification that feeds the adrenalized aspect of hunting. Any hunter or fisher who was truly blind to the suffering of other animals would be a full-on sociopath (as opposed to the semi-sociopaths we all are).
PORN/SEX/LOVE
The brain activity in
pornography addiction is identical to drug abuse.
An
orgasm is the simultaneous activation of pleasure pathways, and deactivation of defense pathways. Seeing an attractive stranger fires no less than four separate pleasure-related neurotransmitters. The chemicals in semen relieve a woman's anxiety or depression, and lessen her pre-menstrual pain. A woman having regular sex will become addicted to these chemicals.
In the second stage of
falling in love, elevated levels of the neurotransmitter serotonin may render us temporarily clinically insane. In the third stage, release of the hormone oxytocin makes us feel profoundly pacified in the presence of our poopsie. Romance triggers the same part of the brain as cocaine.
Drugs, drugs, get your drugs here!
And if you're still unsure about the enormity of our need for escape, and the fact that for the most part it's each other that we're trying to escape from, look up a nifty little psychological condition called objectophilia.
TOUCH
Even more crippling than the sexual repression we endure in this society, is the touch deprivation. A simple hug sparks a wave of endorphins. Touch is the most immediate, effective, and safe drug. Science is only beginning to understand how we need it as much as water or air. Yet in regular social interaction, romance is the only place we sanction abundant physical intimacy, making it an unforgiving battleground in which we constantly balance reward with anxiety. So our bodies subconsciously drive us toward alternative outlets. How many who can afford regular massages, don't indulge? How many enjoy regular manicures, pedicures, or haircuts? How many of us have never NOT had a pet? How many have entered (or stayed in) a romance we didn't really want? Love is the drug? Yes, but touch is the better one.
PAIN
Do people like pain? Apparently we do.
Masochism as a way of life.
People who repeat self-destructive behavioral patterns, over and over.
Floggers and cutters.
High-altitude mountain climbers. Rugby!
The psychology behind finding pleasure in pain is a complicated thing. Both sensations emanate from the same brain centers, so there is an element of subjectivity involved. One of my lovers loved being bitten hard. Does that qualify her as a masochist? Does the fact that it gave me pleasure to please her, make me a sadist?? Nonetheless, an affinity for pain is often about conscious or subconscious self-loathing. A way of dealing with guilt or shame over what others have done to us, or what we've done to them.
Yet sometimes too, pain is simply nothing more than one hellaciously effective escape mechanism. Putting your entire nervous system on overload? A never-fail ticket to leaving all your worries behind.
RECREATIONAL DRUGS
Uncomfortable with my lumping "hard" drugs in with a roller coaster or pie? Get over it. While i don't deny that breaking a reality TV addiction is easier than getting over crack, the stimulation of particular brain centers is a goal that can be achieved in an almost infinite number of ways, and no drug expert would claim that psychological considerations aren't a big part of any addiction. It might be helpful to simply consider hard drugs as just the first escape mechanism to be "outed" in our understanding of addictive behavior. Nor is it only a drug's effect that delivers us out of life - it's also how others treat us when we're under some influence. Whether happy buzz or acid trip, nobody chooses that time to have a "we need to talk" moment with us (and even if someone is reckless enough to do so, you'll hardly be held accountable for your response). For a creature trying to escape pain, that alone is worth the price of any ticket.
ALCOHOL
Alcohol stands apart from other recreational drugs, but not because it doesn't belong in their category - it does. If you've ever used the phrase "drugs and alcohol", implying that they're not the same, you have a deficient grasp of pharmacology and cultural relativity. That said, alcohol gets to stand alone, because no other drug allows you ALL THREE drug escapes, and often at the same time. Alcohol allows you to feel good, bad, or both, on the way to feeling nothing at all.
SMOKING
The first few cigarettes of the day affect the same part of the brain as heroin and cocaine, and can boost your mood, suppress anger, and enhance concentration. Hardly news. But an unspoken function of cigarettes as an escape mechanism has nothing to do with nicotine. Every time a smoker lights up, particularly in public, they're rewarded with a few minutes of untouchability. No matter how shitty things are, they'll be left alone for that little window of time. For all the whining smokers make over their status as social lepers, a part of that is insincere. Many are as addicted to those five minutes away from the world, as they are the nicotine.
MUSIC
Depressed people suffer from low serotonin. Music stimulates serotonin production. It also stimulates endorphins, and has a salutary effect on the healing process. For someone who's spent a lifetime avoiding the weaknesses and pitfalls of drug use, this one irks me a bit. I'm just a sad junkie after all.
BOOKS, MOVING PICTURES, VIDEO GAMES
Do you know why we love movies and books? Why they arouse such passion and devotion? Because our brains don't know the difference between fantasy and reality. Studies have shown that doing an activity, or just thinking about doing it, triggers the same brain response. Have an athlete win a race, or just think about doing so, and her mind won't know the difference. Hence, we have the ability to bond with fictional characters just as deeply as any real person, but with one very important difference. Fictional characters will never, ever, ever, EVER turn on us. The comfort they provide today, they'll be ready to provide thirty days or thirty years from now - no questions asked. Are you beginning to understand why the average person spends NINE ENTIRE YEARS sitting in front of a television? It's the greatest drug ever, and nothing comes close. Understood this way, what percentage of the people imprinted in your memory as your dearest friends, are people you never met, or never even existed? Video games are a fascinating development of the genre. And it's here where the premise of this article takes on its most frightening weight. Video games go one step beyond fiction or fantasy - in video games, you're no longer YOU, and actions (even the most hideous) have NO consequences (except in our minds, which can never forget). Under those conditions, video game players spend hours, even days, in uninterrupted play. What level of misery must a life be in, to spend days pretending to be someone else? And i won't even get into the hyper-violent nature of video games. Unraveling that psychology is a multi-layered, even contradictory mess. But can we all agree that people who are strongly drawn to graphically violent fantasy are dealing with some powerful demons?
SPORTS
Just as alcohol stands apart, so too does spectator sports fill a gap that goes well beyond the escape of "normal" television. Humans are social creatures, and any who don't get enough social intimacy will become off-balance. Unfortunately, male indoctrination has traditionally produced enormous intimacy issues. The average male simply doesn't have the emotional tools needed to react with others in a healthy manner. This is profoundly obvious in the dysfunction of romance, but not so clear in male/male relationships, and a huge part of the reason is...sports. The bonding that males experience therein, is a substitute for actual emotional intimacy. Sports becomes an enormous source of passion, such that it's very often the only thing males are truly comfortable talking about (whether among strangers or those one has known for decades). And talk they do! For hours - team prospects, statistics, fantasies, favorite players, favorite games, even sports-related social issues. Competitive urges can be safely sublimated. And sports is the ultimate piggy-back drug. Is there any setting more natural for the serial downing of beer, beer, beer? For many males, high fives and chest bumps are the only real male physical intimacy they'll ever know. While watching a game, the adrenaline rushes and heartbreaks are a veritable ocean of brain chemical emotion. Now if only some genius could find a way to inject sex into sports. Wait, i've got it! Naked women jumping around on the sidelines! What? Too obvious?
CONCLUSION
Can you picture a close-at-hand future when all psychological profiles (or...shudder...dating profiles) will prominently feature "escape mechanisms" on the list of characteristics? Is it easy now to think of any person you know (including yourself), and break down their life in terms of escapes?
This list is far from comprehensive, of course. Our electronic modern media cocoons are the very definition of social isolation, false camaraderie, and escape. There are workaholics, cult members, comedy junkies, greed junkies, charity junkies, serial killers, trekkies, and a billion other escapees out there.
At this point, the reader might be inclined to say, "Wait...all these activities damn near encompass EVERYTHING humans do! It seems like you're pathologizing life, wrob. What about the simple desire for pleasure? Isn't a certain sensate hedonism just part of what it means to be human?" To that i answer, yes. But it's all about context, and need. We're biologically constructed to be pleasure-seekers, but we're not psychologically constructed to need pleasure (or pain, or excitement, or numbness) as a never-ending escape. A certain amount of escape is natural, too...we are creatures of imagination. But when escape becomes the only thing that makes life bearable, something has gone terribly off-balance.
Put another way, try to imagine how you would feel if you were cut off from your own favorite escape mechanism, suddenly and forever. Might you not become sad and withdrawn? Agitated and anxious? Edgy and short-tempered? Might not your behavior be indistinguishable from any "junkie" in withdrawal?
What then, is the answer? A continued search into what it means to be human. Our species' self-awareness is still in the infancy stage. As science continues to learn about our essential needs, physically and psychologically, we'll continue to understand just how dehumanizing is this world we've created for ourselves.
And in a more immediate sense, awareness of our profound investment in escape mechanisms can help us cope when they take over our lives. Addiction has very little to do with willpower, or the lack thereof. If you find a certain behavior (or substance) has you in a seemingly unbreakable grip, remember the word "replace". You'll never quit any addiction without replacing what it brings to your life. Holes will always demand to be filled. But fill them you can, with behaviors over which you can exert more control. Those words may seem idiotically simplistic to someone with a painkiller addiction...but Alcoholics Anonymous aren't nearly as dumb as they seem. Fill someone's brain with the power of community, get them hopped up on daily doses of religion...it may be borrowing from peter to pay paul, but you'll more closely resemble a functioning human being. And be less likely to set yourself on fire, or wake up naked in the mayor's gazebo. Or some such.
And i adore the phrase "painkiller addiction", by the way. It's got to be the most unintentionally-revealing addition to the english language in the last century. It describes exactly who and what we are, as a people.
Painkiller addict?
You've never met someone who wasn't.
P.S. In the seconds after publishing this online, i felt one of the sweetest drug rushes of my life. We found another one...
