Why curiosity may be the antidote to addiction.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Human beings make tens of thousands of choices every day. Almost half of these daily actions are habitual \u2014 conducted on \u201cautopilot\u201d without much conscious thought.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
And when we try to shake up our behavior, we often think it comes down to willpower: having the self-control to decline a second glass of wine, head to the gym after work, or skip a cigarette break.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
But according to psychiatrist and addiction expert Judson Brewer, willpower is a pervasive but misleading myth. It\u2019s steeped in our collective psyche but has little neuroscientific basis. While self-control certainly exists, it\u2019s one of the worst ways to change behavior.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cFrom a neuroscience perspective, there is no such thing as willpower,\u201d Brewer tells Inverse. It\u2019s \u201cjust not how our brains work,\u201d Brewer adds.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Brewer is a researcher and professor at the School of Medicine at Brown University and executive medical director of behavioral health at the digital health company Sharecare. Brewer recently summed up his two decades of scientific discoveries in his upcoming book, Unwinding Anxiety (March 9, 2021, Penguin Random House).<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cThe long and short of it is it\u2019s a really nice story, but it\u2019s not a true story,\u201d Brewer says.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Instead of relying on willpower, the brain makes choices and forms behavior based on a built-in, primitive, reward-based system called reinforcement learning. Whenever the brain has a choice, it gravitates toward the more rewarding option.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
By intentionally bringing awareness and curiosity to any action, you upend the reward value of a habit, and in turn, change your response to it.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
When you dig into the moment-to-moment sensations of an action \u2014 whether you\u2019re a smoker, overeater, or anxious worrier \u2014 you often realize it\u2019s not all that rewarding. In turn, you become \u201cdisenchanted\u201d with the action, and, over time and repetition, lose interest completely.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
This week, we\u2019ll explore how mindfulness techniques can leverage brain systems to break habits, curb cravings, and overcome addiction.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cCuriosity is contagious,\u201d Brewer says. \u201cThe more we practice it, the more we want to practice it because of its intrinsically rewarding qualities \u2014 because it feels good.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
I\u2019m Ali Pattillo and this is Strategy, a series packed with actionable tips to help you make the most out of your life, career, and finances.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Primitive patterns, modern problems \u2014 The brain\u2019s reward-based learning system is its oldest survival mechanism. It helps us find food and avoid danger but can trip us up in modern life.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
That\u2019s because initially rewarding activities are quickly embedded in the brain. As the activity is repeated, it becomes more and more entrenched as an automatic response to a certain trigger, even when the process is no longer rewarding.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cIt turns out, this is where mindfulness comes in,\u201d Brewer explains. \u201cIf you want to change behavior, you have to update the reward value. And the only way to update a reward value is to bring awareness in and see very, very clearly what you\u2019re actually getting from the behavior.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Oftentimes, when people turn inward and engage with the present experience, it disappoints \u2014 a psychological phenomenon called a negative prediction error. They\u2019re expecting it to be rewarding, but reality brings a different result.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Brewer suggests asking yourself these questions:<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Can you be aware of your behaviors?
Can you be aware of your thoughts, emotions, and sensations?
Can you bring an attitude of curiosity to those?
Instead of prejudging what\u2019s happening, like saying, \u201cOh, this is good or this is bad?\u201d can you simply be curious and observe what is happening right now?<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cThat\u2019s really what mindfulness is: being aware and being truly open to what\u2019s actually happening and removing all of our subjective bias glasses,\u201d Brewer says.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
What the data says \u2014 Brewer has seen hundreds of people become \u201cdisenchanted\u201d with some of their most long-standing habits, from consuming chocolate to cocaine.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
One patient, a long-standing smoker, had a visceral feeling of disgust when she paid attention to the second-to-second experience of smoking a cigarette.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Smoking smells like \u201cstinky cheese and tastes like chemicals. Yuck,\u201d Brewer recalls her saying.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cIt only takes 10 or 15 times of somebody really paying attention, whether it\u2019s a mindful eating exercise or a mindful smoking exercise, that the reward value drops to or even below zero,\u201d Brewer says.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Brewer has hammered this technique into app-based mindfulness programs and tested their efficacy with smokers, physicians struggling with anxiety and burnout, and people who overeat.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Brewer found that mindfulness can be the \u201cbrain hack\u201d that subverts addictive behaviors, sometimes better than standard treatment.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
In a 2011 study, Brewer observed that four months after treatment, mindfulness was found to be five times better at helping people quit smoking than gold-standard treatment programs.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
In another 2020 study on physicians under tremendous stress, mindfulness helped, too. Within a month of using Brewer\u2019s Unwinding Anxiety app, physicians\u2019 anxiety and burnout had gone down by 50 percent. At three months, anxiety was down 57 percent from baseline levels.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
In 2018, his team found that a mindfulness eating program called Eat Right Now reduced craving-related eating by 40 percent in overweight and obese individuals. It also reduced eating in response to negative emotions by 36 percent.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Taken together, the evidence suggests mindfulness \u2014 bringing awareness and curiosity to an action \u2014 is potentially as good or better than medication. Instead of temporarily curbing symptoms, you can \u201cget at the root cause of the problem,\u201d Brewer says.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cThere is hope, and we can back that hope up with data,\u201d the researcher says.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
How to put mindfulness into practice \u2014 Still, even though this technique appears simple \u2014 intuitive even \u2014 practicing awareness and curiosity isn\u2019t always easy. Especially in times of stress, turning inward can be exceptionally difficult.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cOld habits are familiar and therefore comfortable,\u201d Brewer says. \u201cSo anytime we move out of our comfort zone, typically, we move into a panic zone.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
But it\u2019s possible to move into a \u201cgrowth zone\u201d if we engage awareness and curiosity.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cThis is the only thing that\u2019s going to help, and the sooner we learn to turn toward [our habits], the easier it\u2019s going to be, because the less solidified those habits will be,\u201d Brewer says.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
3 steps for habit change:<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Awareness: The first step is being able to recognize a habit loop and map out the components, Brewer says. This means identifying what triggers a behavior, how the behavior feels, and what the results of the behavior are. This can help you better evaluate the true reward or risk of a habit.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Curiosity: Getting curious, not judgmental, about your cravings flips the valence from the unpleasantness of a craving to the pleasantness of curiosity. The exercise becomes intrinsically rewarding and you can then identify alternatives that are more attractive.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Pinpoint the BBO: Find \u201cthe bigger better offer.\u201d Find behaviors that are actually more rewarding than the habit you\u2019re trying to break. Maybe that\u2019s exercise, mindfulness, or simply curiosity itself. Each time a craving comes on, repeat these steps.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
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