Pleasure Unwoven...

I'm not one to say, "I've seen it all", because I believe there is so much to learn out in this world that a person can hardly keep up with basic information about personal and professional subjects. However, I have seen a lot when it comes to the field of addictions, and I'm not often surprised by what I read or watch.

Recently something new did show up on the radar, and I was very surprised. It's a video that was produced by Dr. Kevin McCauley at the Institute for Addiction Study in Utah called, "Pleasure Unwoven" (you can find a copy at the Institute's webs site, http://www.pleasureunwoven.com/). I've attached a short segment of the video below just to give you a taste, but I pass the information along on where to get the video because I feel it is the most carefully prepared and easily understood explanation of what it means to be addicted to drugs that I have ever seen.

I believe it's true that more than 8 out of 10 people are touched by addiction. Either it is themselves who are addicted to people, places, things, or situations, or it is someone they know who is. In that case, it is really imperative that almost everyone come to know what is meant when professionals say that someone is addicted. Many of my friends and associates are confused about this matter. Given how some people who are addicted behave - with their selfish craving, lying, cheating and stealing to get their drugs, and near-brutal abuse of those around them - it is no wonder that even the most enlightened person will sometimes say, "Don't they know what is happening to them? Why don't they just stop?" Somehow, many people find that it is all well and good that modern science understands addictions to be a physical problem, but these same people cannot shake the fact that it still appears to be a moral failing in people who are addicted. Most often that's because many people believe that if we just look at addiction the way we look at other diseases, like diabetes or heart disease, then we will somehow be endorsing that addict's behavior and letting them off the hook.

Addiction is a disease. As Dr. McCauley says, "Addiction is a disease of choice", and it affects the most important organ in the human body...the brain. Addiction is a brain disease. "Pleasure Unwoven" is a fantastic look at that disease and how it can happen in a person, the natural course of the disease, and the usually fatal outcome. He does this in a wonderful way: He takes us for a tour of the magnificent Utah countryside and uses the natural wonder of it all as one giant prop to help explain how addiction works in the human brain. Clever, but also powerful. I have never seen it so simply and precisely explained before, and the video will - if you know a lot or very little about the disease - clarify everything.

If you are someone who knows someone with the disease of addiction, then you will want to watch this video. It will give you a picture of what you are dealing with when you interact with the brain of someone addicted to drugs, or behaviors, and it may be the most simple and effective way you will be able to know what to do when you are confronted by that addicted person.

All the best, Roger W.