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As an addictions therapist with current treatment centers in New York city we've moved away
from looking at the addictive nature of substances and we now look at the addictive personality
types that people who suffer from addiction share. So we know that people maybe become
addicted to one particular thing. Say they develop alcoholism, they become addicted to
alcohol and then if you take the alcohol away from them if they enter into a recovery program
and they have recovery around their alcoholism, that their personality then will move them
into another addiction, a secondary addiction. So it's really looking at the personality
and figuring out that personality. And figuring out how to create a holistic recovery program
for that person that address's their addictive personality. So the solution there is not
so much in the substance. The focus isn't on the addictive nature of this substance
but it becomes on the addictive nature of the person's personality. And that's how we
create a successful program of recovery. So we know that people are addicted to a hormone
that the brain releases called dopamine and the dopamine is something that makes us feel
terrific. It gives us a sense of calm. It makes us feel at ease in the world and so
people become addicted to that. And they attach that release, the release of the dopamine
to either a addicted behavior or an addictive substance. So it's very, there's a very strong
connection between addictions and what's happening in our brain. And as we move forward in the
fields of addictions we're beginning to focus much more attention to the mechanics of the
brain and what's happening in our brains, then focusing on the nature of the substances
that the people are using in order to get that feeling. In order to get that euphoric
high.