The idea that we need to go down in order to get up, or backward in order to go forward is an important part of understanding the journey toward wholeness and health – the journey often involves the practice of taking three steps forward followed by two steps backward.

In this post I turn to some very important words of wisdom from my mentor, colleague, and friend Dr. William Loving* and his explanation of the Chinese finger trap:

CONTEMPLATING THE CHINESE FINGER TRAP

By William Loving, MD, ABAM

The first impulse to free yourself from a Chinese finger trap is to pull hard, but this only entraps you more. The way to get free is the opposite-give up the struggle. Likewise, brute force, strong determination, or sheer willpower do not work to free a person in the throes of chemical dependency. Nearly 20% of our population struggles with the dangerous and destructive central nervous system disorder of drug addiction and alcoholism. This disorder is often inherited but can be acquired, and is due to a particular primitive part of the brain that grossly overreacts to drugs that induce euphoria.

Divide the brain horizontally in half at the ears, and you have the neocortex above the ears which contains the higher functions such as logic, speech, thought, and willpower, while below the ears you have the primitive or instinctual brain. The key part of the brain involved in chemical dependency is just below the ears at the reward center (mesocorticolimbic system.) This reward or pleasure center registers the feeling of euphoria or “high”, and then reflexively urges you to repeat the experience that induced the pleasure. If the reward center overreacts, not only is the euphoria extremely intense, but the reflex urges are very powerful saying “DO IT AGAIN!”

Strong messages like this from the instinctual part of the brain overpower willpower, which is a function located above the ears in the neocortex. When a child says, “If you don’t let me have what I want I’ll hold my breath till I turn blue and die,” we are amused. We know the child will breathe in due time-the breathing center in the instinct actual brain stem will overcome the child’s willpower.

Drug addicts and alcoholics truly experience a more intense “high” because their reward center is overly sensitive or reactive to certain chemicals. Ask a non-alcoholic how alcohol makes them feel, and they will give an answer such as, “Oh, it makes me feel kind of loose and giddy�calmer and uninhibited maybe, but at three or four drinks I start to feel dizzy and out of control so I quit.” An alcoholic will answer, “It makes me feel GOOD and four drinks is great-five drinks is better-and six is better still so I keep drinking and lose count.” The alcoholic’s reward center is very stimulated; it says “DO IT AGAIN” repeatedly; they feel great; this primitive part of the brain is running the show and they become out of control. The neocortical functions such as logic, willpower, morals, and ethics are superseded by the strong reward center impulses. And what is more dangerous, the brain is disinhibited and the vital neocortical functions including insight and judgment are impaired by these same chemicals. The chemically dependent person feels the “high” while those around him or her only experience that person’s misbehavior due to the short-circuited neocortical functions.

So, do we have a reward center so cocaine, pot, alcohol, and opiates have a place to work? Of course not. The reward center is naturally stimulated by sex/intimacy, exercise, food, collecting/shopping, a job well done, and artistic/spiritual experiences. All of these categories of natural “highs” give us survival benefits, and yet isn’t it interesting that any one of these natural “highs” can create problems as well if compulsively overdone. Remember, there is Sex and Love Addicts Anonymous, Over Eaters Anonymous, Debtors Anonymous, Workaholics, Compulsive Exercisers, and even a Fundamentalist Anonymous group. The natural “highs” when done in moderation, though, do not disinhibit the brain and impair the other neocortical functions, and so are less likely to become problems.

When chemically dependent people become out of control they are functioning very much like the primate in this monkey trap picture: ” …a coconut with a small hole in each end and fastened to the ground by wire or cord. Bait is placed inside. Monkey reached in, closes fist, and won’t let go even though he can’t pull fist through hole.”

This is an illustration from a World War II survival manual for downed pilots which instructs a hungry pilot how to catch a monkey for food. The trap uses the strength of the monkey’s instincts against him. The monkey will hold onto the food to the point of being captured rather than do the smart thing and let go. Chemically dependent people will hold on to their drugs and alcohol in the same manner to the point of great loss and even death. In this way, the supersensitive reward center, in the instinctual brain, takes over and controls the human’s life.

So what does all this have to do with the Chinese finger trap? Struggling and willpower won’t free a chemically dependent person any more than pulling can free a person from a finger trap. After willpower fails, and it always does in a true addict or alcoholic, the chemically dependent person has to use a different approach than their first impulse. They must stop fighting and accept their powerlessness. This is the first step of Alcoholics Anonymous Twelve Steps to recovery.

This surrender frees up a great deal of energy so that the person can accept help and make the profound changes necessary to recover. After this stage the power can shift to the functions of the neocortex to establish an ongoing, proactive, sobriety plan based on new information about the disorder. Now, effective skills and tips can be learned in treatment to manage the disorder. The person can find real power and freedom in the treatment axiom of “surrender to win,” just like freedom from the Chinese Finger Trap comes by doing the opposite of what you might think.

*This article and other important articles and information from Dr. Loving may be found at http://www.billlovingmd.com/