Addiction and 'Hijacking'

There are some people who become addicts because they purposefully use a substance or a behavior to 'feel better.'  Then there are those who find themselves addicted or 'get hooked' through no real 'need.'

 

There are a growing number of people whose brains are being 'hijacked.'  It is not the old fashioned 'addiction' or even 'dependency.'  It really is even a stretch to call it 'abuse' (even though it certainly is as far as outward appearances).

 

Brain hijacking comes in many forms, from food designed to induce us to eat more of it to High-definition streaming porn ads that pop up and immediately set the mind ablaze.  It is more than the dealer offering a 'free sample.'  It is a methodological approach to getting people hooked through camouflage and subterfuge.

 

An interesting read on the topic is The Fix.  While I don't agree with everything he says, much of it I do.

 

We live in an age where science is now coaching the corporate-government complex on how to hijack our minds and get us to go along with thoughts and plans we would much rather not do.  We are no longer able to entirely exercise our free-wills, because we are laden with bad information which is then enforced by the hijacking of our natural functions.

 

This is a real challenge to a recovery model that is designed for those who choose to abuse substances and behaviors for set reasons.  Sometimes, I think we have people chasing ghosts in their memories that really are not there.  Treatment may mean an entirely different approach for those who are hijacked versus those who are addicted.

 

I think it also explains why some people shake off even severe 'addictions.'  If the hijacker can be dislodged, the problem will go away.  I'm not saying that I think spirituality is optional, because I do believe that true spirituality makes everyone better, addicted or not.  What I am saying is that there can be times where what seems like an addiction case is really something else.

 

I call this a brain hijacking.  Perhaps I am wrong, but I am seeing more and more cases of people with compulsions that simply don't match up with more traditional addiction narrative.

 

Of course, this hijacking can eventually lead to real addiction as the hijacked person acts out and starts creating his own reasons to use.  But, they did not start out that way.