 There's a lot of hate and disgust for people who are drug addicts or alcoholics, and rightfully so. In this video, we're going to talk about why addicts are such terrible people, but we're going to dive into a little bit of brain science, so stay tuned. What is up everybody? This is Chris from the Rewired Soul, where we talk about the problem, but focus on the solution. In case you are new here and have not met me yet, I am a drug addict and alcoholic in recovery. My sobriety date is June 23, 2012, got sober on my 27th birthday, fun birthday, right? Anyways, it's widely known that addicts and alcoholics do terrible things, terrible, terrible, terrible things. So, I'm going to start this video off with a little bit of a disclaimer. In this video, we are going to discuss the neuroscience behind addiction, explain why addicts are such terrible people, but this is not an excuse for the behavior. If you are an addict watching this video, your excuse of ignorance is now gone. I educate people on these things to let family members as well as addicts learn to understand what's actually happening in the brain and why people act the way that they do. This is very beneficial for addicts who are trying to get sober because it helps us understand why we did what we did and we're not terrible people, we're just sick people, but we're sick people who can get well. This is very important because a lot of addicts who get clean, one of the main questions I get is, how do I forgive myself for the things that I've done? It's also important for family members to understand this and this is why I teach families about this because families are very confused and they don't understand why their son, their daughter, their husband, their wife, their mom, their dad, whoever it is, they don't understand why this person is a mere shadow of who they used to be. Based on what we know about addiction and what's happening in the brain, we can logically explain why addicts are such terrible people. So let's dive into this thing. First, I want to talk about the history of addiction. Literally thousands of years, thousands and thousands of years, people have been addicts and alcoholics. Like think about back to ancient Greece, Egypt, Rome, they were drinking wine. If you look at old stories, you'll hear stories of town drunks and if you watch any medieval movie, like A Knight's Tale or maybe even Game of Thrones, you'll see a town drunk. This is something that's been around forever. For many, many years, for all these thousands of years, we thought that these people were just awful people. If you wanted to quit, you would, but you clearly don't, so you're not. This is what people thought for the longest time and I'm talking a long time. If you think about the history, like going back to BC, when people were drinking, using opium and all the other drugs back then, up until just about a few decades ago, we thought that addicts and alcoholics were just terrible people. Back in the 1930s, right around the time alcoholics anonymous started, all they really had was detox centers. Basically, they said, look, we'll get you medically and physically stable, but you're probably screwed because I don't know how to help you. It was a really bad situation back then. Thanks to science. This is why I talk about science so much because it helps us learn. It helps us get to outer space and use cell phones and all sorts of cool stuff, right? Science started to progress and a lot more resources started going into studying the brain and studying addiction. Something that we discovered is that the brain of an addict or an alcoholic is much different than somebody who is not an addict or alcoholic. We can pinpoint the two differences on two different parts of the brain. The limbic system and the prefrontal cortex. Think of the limbic system like your car engine or the gas pedal. It is what's telling you to go, go, go, go, go. The prefrontal cortex is the newest part of the brain that is not even fully evolutionarily developed yet and that is like the brake pedal. It is telling you when to stop. The National Institute on Drug Abuse and many other research facilities have discovered that addicts and alcoholics have a prefrontal cortex that does not function properly. What this means is that the gas pedal is floored and the brake lines are cut. We keep going and we don't know when to stop. That's one of the responsibilities of the prefrontal cortex. Think about it. Thousands of years, addicts are terrible people. Up until recent history, we figured out the prefrontal cortex is the problem. Now, some of you may be asking, well, why isn't this more widely known? It's very difficult to understand for a lot of people. The war on drugs is definitely not helping the issue. The fact that we're incarcerating everybody who has an addiction is not all that great for this whole stigma that we got going on. But anyways, that's one of the reasons I do this channel to educate beautiful people like you about what's really happening in the brain. Now this gets to the focus of this video. Why are addicts terrible people? So we have just discussed how the prefrontal cortex is the primary problem with addicts and alcoholics. So now I'm going to introduce you to a gentleman by the name of Dr. Dan Siegel. He is a neuroscientist. He's also a psychiatrist. And he does a lot of work involving the prefrontal cortex. I found him because when I really got into mindfulness and how it actually helps the brain, I learned more and more and more about the prefrontal cortex. So think about the addict or alcoholic you have in your life. There I guarantee you know one. So don't even front. So think about the addict or alcoholic in your life. And let's look at the Dan Siegel list of nine, the nine primary functions of the prefrontal cortex and start to think, does the addict or alcoholic in your life have issues with any of these things? If you're an addict or an alcoholic, ask yourself this question. Do you have an issue with any of these things? So let's go down the list. Number one, body regulation. Number two, attuned communication. Number three, emotional balance slash effect regulation. Number four, response flexibility. Number five, empathy. Number six, insight or self-knowing awareness. Seven, fear modulation slash fear extinction. Eight, intuition and nine, morality. Now, if you're confused as to what some of these things are, stay tuned. Make sure you're subscribed to my channel. I will break these down a little bit more, but let's just pick a few real quick. Emotional regulation, addicts and alcoholics fly off the handles. They have extreme emotions. They don't just get happy. They get ecstatic. That's one of the reasons we cling to drugs and alcohol so bad, because we don't just feel good. We feel great, right? But we also don't just get sad. We get depressed. We don't just get scared or stressed out. We get anxious. Our emotional regulation is all over the place. Now let's talk about empathy. Why does a son steal from his mother? Why does a father not buy his kids clothes and toys and spends them on drugs instead because they lack empathy? The prefrontal cortex is responsible for empathy. Fear modulation. Why do addicts and alcoholics put their life and the life of others at risk on a regular basis? It's because they do not process fear in the same way as most people do. So we know that the prefrontal cortex is affected. We know what the prefrontal cortex does, and this is why addicts and alcoholics are perceived as such bad people. The part of the brain that's responsible for making us good, well-doing human beings is not functioning properly. Now good news is, as you stay sober, the longer you stay clean, that part of the brain starts to strengthen. This doesn't mean that there is a cure for addiction, but all of these various traits of the prefrontal cortex start to get better over time merely by staying clean. One of the reasons I introduce mindfulness to the clients I work with at my treatment center is because mindfulness and meditation are scientifically improving to speed up that process and strengthen the prefrontal cortex. See how this all kind of fits in together? So like I said at the beginning, this is not to give addicts and alcoholics an excuse, but it's to give you a little bit more empathy as well as understanding and give you some answers as to why addicts and alcoholics act the way that they do. So if you're an addict in recovery, I hope this broadens your view a little bit and helps you start to forgive yourself just a little bit, but like I said, this is not an excuse. Now, if you like this video, head over to therewiredsoul.com. I have an entire course on the disease of addiction where I dive in deep into the brain science as well as the risk factors why some people become addicts and some people don't. I present this course to my clients as well as family members to give them a better understanding and good news for the entire month of December starting now. I know it's a couple of days early starting now. The course is 50% off until December 31st. So if you would like to learn more about the disease of addiction, whether you're somebody in recovery or you're somebody who has a loved one, you just want to understand a little bit more about what's actually happening. Go over to therewiredsoul.com. I will put the coupon code in the description below. So make sure you check it out. But if you like this video, make sure you give it a thumbs up. And if you are new here, make sure you click that little round subscribe button because I'm always making videos about addiction, recovery, mental health, how to help you with your emotional stability. And also make sure to click or tap on one of the thumbnails over there because there's a ton of other videos on this channel. Thanks for watching. I'll see you next time.