“Get a rat and put it in a cage and give it two water bottles. One is just water, and one is water laced with either heroin or cocaine. If you do that, the rat will almost always prefer the drugged water and almost always kill itself very quickly, right, within a couple of weeks.
So there you go. It’s our theory of addiction.
Bruce comes along in the ’70s and said, “Well, hang on a minute. We’re putting the rat in an empty cage. It’s got nothing to do. Let’s try this a little bit differently.”
So Bruce built Rat Park, and Rat Park is like heaven for rats. Everything your rat about town could want, it’s got in Rat Park. It’s got lovely food. It’s got sex. It’s got loads of other rats to be friends with. It’s got loads of coloured balls. Everything your rat could want. And they’ve got both the water bottles. They’ve got the drugged water and the normal water. But here’s the fascinating thing. In Rat Park, they don’t like the drugged water. They hardly use any of it.
None of them ever overdose. None of them ever use it in a way that looks like compulsion or addiction. There’s a really interesting human example I’ll tell you about in a minute, but what Bruce says shows that both the right-wing and left-wing theories of addiction are wrong.
So the right-wing theory is it’s a moral failing, you’re a hedonist, you party too hard. The left-wing theory is it takes you over, your brain is hijacked. Bruce says it’s not your morality, it’s not your brain; it’s your cage. Addiction is largely an adaptation to your environment.
We’ve created a society where significant numbers of our fellow citizens cannot bear to be present in their lives without being drugged, right? We’ve created a hyperconsumerist, hyper individualist, isolated world that is, for a lot of people, much more like that first cage than it is like the bonded, connected cages that we need.
The opposite of addiction is not sobriety.
The opposite of addiction is connection.
Johann Hari
Our whole society, the engine of our society, is geared towards making us connect with things, not people. If you are not a good consumer capitalist citizen, if you’re spending your time bonding with the people around you and not buying stuff—in fact, we are trained from a very young age to focus our hopes and our dreams and our ambitions on things we can buy and consume.
@AnswerAddictio1 This is an honest description of my thoughts and the horror I went thru but im here I made it. I lost my brother's and sister and too many friends but I'm still here above ground still breathing n sharing 4 a reason pic.twitter.com/Pa7pIQ6OAW
I lay on this bed encased by these walls. sober now.
I can feel the pain of all my flaws.
Peaceful and lost in the illusion I slept thru all my loved ones’ cries.
Even her kind eyes couldn’t keep me from wanting to end my life.
Caged outside my mind also brings confinement inside.
My willpower shatters faced with all the brain cells I’ve fried.
I was captivated by her pinprick of charm.
Why didn’t God save me from sticking her into my arm?
How could a bag bring such pleasure and pain?
I still sit N stare, insanely at my veins.
The bruises of this Lust affair dance up n down my body.
Track marks tell the world far too much about me.
Only time I felt Joy was with the pull of the plunger.
Within the next few seconds, a nodded out slumber.
Blue in the Lips N White in the Face.
But with a shot or 2 of Narcan, it becomes just another day.
Awakening startled I just overdosed, Yet still cursing at the E.M.T…
“Next time just let me Go!”
This tragedy to U has become my Life, U see?
Inside I feel I’m No One.
Just a junkie In long sleeves.
I’ve become the monster U all made me out to be.
And with a needle and a spoon, I’d nod my way to peace.
Sleep away the day and steady search thru the nite.
The daily fucking routine of a stupid dope heads Life.
I snatch the mirror that I see myself in off the wall.
As I looked inside I loathed the person that I saw.
Sometimes in my Heart creeps a tiny bit of hope.
I wish upon a star for the power to just stop shooting dope.
But then Bam reality hits.
So I’ve stopped throwing pennies and seeking shooting stars.
Because I’ve learned prayers don’t get answered for those who are the likes of ours…
“THIS IS A HEROIN ADDICT’S MIND” “Or at least this addicts mind”
HOWEVER, IF YOU FIRST LISTEN TO YOUR HEART AND EMBRACE CHANGE, YOU CAN CHANGE YOUR THINKING AND USE IT AS YOUR COCOON. AND I PROMISE IF YOU DO THIS CONFIDENTLY AND PATIENTLY THEN U2 WILL EMERGE AND FLY LIKE A BUTTERFLY.LEAViNG OLD REGRETS BEHIND AND NEW MEMORIES AHEAD.
“I feel guilty for being able to live this incredible life, have the opportunities that I do, but somehow still be depressed. It doesn’t make sense.”
Supermodel Bella Hadid is in a good place. She recently opened up about her private battle with depression at the Vogue Fashion Festival in Paris. The in-demand model describes feeling conflicted about feeling depressed in the midst of a thriving career that saw her working with fashion greats like the late Karl Lagerfield and Tom Ford.
“For a while, I just didn’t want to talk about it, and I’ve gone through a lot in the past few years with my health,” she said. “I feel guilty for being able to live this incredible life, have the opportunities that I do, but somehow still be depressed. It doesn’t make sense.”
Emotional Instability
Depression can affect anyone, regardless of social status or economic background. Despite her storybook life, Hadid was struggling with depression symptoms.
“I would cry every single morning, I would cry during my lunch breaks, I would cry before I slept,” she said. “I was very emotionally unstable for a while when I was working 14-hour days for four months straight as an 18-year-old. I think I just wanted to breathe a little bit. And so it kind of put me in a spiral.”
Last month, Hadid took to Instagram to give a spotlight to those living with depression:
She wrote, “Yesterday was mental health awareness day. A struggle that I know a majority of us have dealt with in the past or [are] dealing with currently. And if not, you probably know someone who is…something that I have been dealing with for a few years but [is] finally at a point where it doesn’t consume me as much as before.”
While Hadid is doing better, she still has “bad days along with the good, but [I’m] grateful and proud of myself to be in the place that I am today.”
Hadid decided that speaking out about living with depression was important.
“I feel like I would be doing a disservice to myself if I didn’t speak about something such as mental health, because that’s pretty much what I’ve been going through for the past five years very intensely,” Hadid said. “Now we’re here and we’re good, but it took a while.”
Gigi’s Anxiety
Gigi Hadid, Bella’s older sister, has also spoken out about mental health, specifically dealing with anxiety. During a panel for Reebok, Gigi detailed how being in the public eye can take its toll on your psyche. She described how the pressure to live up to this perfect image has left her with anxious feelings.
To combat the pressure, Gigi has taken social media breaks and uses positive affirmations to help her cope.
Hadid wrote on Instagram that she still has “bad days along with the good, but [I’m] grateful and proud of myself to be in the place that I am today.”
Supermodel Bella Hadid turned 23 on October 9, one day before World Mental Health Day, and she used the occasion to speak out about the importance of taking care of your mental health.
Hadid wrote on Instagram that she still has “bad days along with the good, but [I’m] grateful and proud of myself to be in the place that I am today.”
In an Instagram post, she wrote, “Yesterday was mental health awareness day. A struggle that I know a majority of us have dealt with in the past or [are] dealing with currently. And if not, you probably know someone who is…something that I have been dealing with for a few years but [is] finally at a point where it doesn’t consume me as much as before.”
https://www.instagram.com/p/B3fOqawgrC9/?utm_source=ig_web_copy_link
Hadid still has “bad days along with the good, but [I’m] grateful and proud of myself to be in the place that I am today.”
Bella Hadid Drugs
In her post, Hadid included a statement from mental health advocate Hannah Blum, which read, “Even on those rainy days where it feels like the world is covered in grey, do not lose hope, because there has never been a storm that lasted forever. The sun is always present; it too has to find a way through the clouds.”
Late last year, Hadid was asked by Vogue what she considered her biggest success, and she replied, “Probably my health and mental state right now.” Hadid was recovering from a bout with Lyme disease, and she told People, “This year I really just feel like I am myself again and happy and healthy in all aspects of my life.”
Social Media & Mental Health
Hadid then addressed how social media can affect your mental health (Hadid has over 26 million followers on Instagram).
“I would like to add that everything you see online or through social media is not always what it seems,” she continued. “The happiness we create online while being sad in real life makes no sense, but sometimes it just seems easier to live within your sadness rather than talk about it. If it wasn’t for the people closest to me, I probably would have still been in that place, and for that, I am forever thankful to them.”
In closing, Hadid wrote, “If you are reading this and feel like there’s no light at the end of the tunnel, there is…and I see you! You are strong, you are good enough and you DESERVE to be happy!”
