These presently uber-popular prescription diabetes / weight loss pharmaceuticals (weekly injectables) claim to diminish the volume (think sound) of patient's "food noise" as they go about their day-to-day activities. Patients describe "food noise" as the Siren Song of eating. Hence, by reducing that noise, resisting compulsive food intake is made substantially easier.
Scientists don't understand exactly how this pharmaceutical works internally to accomplish this.
But I have a theory.
-------------------------
You'll hear the notion of neuroplasticity A LOT within (virtual groups) Samson Society. This is the notion / theory that our brain can "rewire" itself, therein forming "new neuro-pathways" over time.
If you give credit to the meaning of the word plastic, it implies being shaped / formed ONCE into a new shape / form. It's a violent process that takes its fair share of energy to pull off.
There are certainly certain engineered forms of material plastics whose potential is designed-in to be easily recycled / reformed / repurposed, but mostly, the term plastic implies one significant "shaping" only. One and done. Use the newly shaped object and discard it.
Hence, scientific research now seems to point towards the fact that the brain isn't at all neuroplastic. Nonetheless, it can move towards new information / understanding, and as such, abandon routes used prior - once new ones are established. But this takes not only time but the will for the brain to move towards "blue ocean" (new territory). And as stated prior (whilst staying with my materials plastic analogy), this is a violent, energy-intense process for the brain to accomplish. All the while warranting no guarantee of true recovery return in the end.
Regarding the brain's willingness to do this, I'm convinced there must be motivation / motivators (positive or negative or some combination) therein. Otherwise, there's no true gain or win in doing so, and sans motivation / motivators (positive / negative), the mind won't be convinced.
And, based on personal experience / observation, that motivator needs to come (to some degree or another) in the form of seemingly uninterruptable / uninterrupted pain.
-------------------------
A few weeks back, I hit the pause button on my role as a Silas to one particular young man. He and I had been walking closely together for +/-6 months.
Why did I do this?
There was no will for his brain to move towards blue ocean.
His upper-class life was absolutely defined by safety net after safety net after safety net. Whether it was his church, his parents, his wife, his role as a student (professional college), all around him were safety nets. There was no need for him to fear any real consequences related to choosing to indulge in compulsive sexual sin. For he was convinced that none of the safety nets would ever be removed as a result.
This young man was quite transparent with everyone within his sphere of influence (all mentioned above) regarding his illicit behavior, but as such, he knew he could continue to get away with it Scot-free.
No motivation to move towards blue ocean = zero chance of recovery.
-------------------------
Committing / experiencing Samson Society, for Rob, has been rooted in blue ocean. My motivation came from the stifling, consistently debilitating emotional pain via my job loss back in September of 2013 (I'd broken my employer's IT policy). Via that emotional trauma, I developed PTSD which was hellacious. This 18-month brain torture positioned me - no holds barred - towards blue ocean. Not once did I look to anything familiar related to therapeutic healing. Instead, it was boots-on-the-ground, facing west (not once turning to the right or the left) and marching forward into the unknown.
I absolutely had to get help / healing for my tormented / traumatized brain.
-------------------------
After the devastation of Hurricane Katrina (2005) in New Orleans, LA, Houston, TX stepped up and agreed to "receive" a massive number of impoverished (now homeless) New Orleanians who'd lost everything due to the storm. If I remember correctly, they were bussed to Houston, caravaning west in one accord.
The situation in NOLA immediately following the hurricane was bleak. Levees had failed which had precipitated massive flooding, utilities were down (water / electricity), and looting / crime were rampant. Keep in mind too that this was late August of that year. Temps were close to 100 at 100% humidity.
The housing within the Lower Ninth Ward of NOLA was literally wiped away by the storm, and no one truly realized just how apocalyptic the situation would become - literally overnight.
NOLA has been known for rampant crime for decades, and back then, things were no different. Much of this is fueled culturally via substance abuse. NOLA has always been a destination city (drunken tourism) that leaves little incentive to actually put down roots therein.
Houston, TX is about as culturally opposite to NOLA as one might imagine. And yet, here these poor homeless blacks were. There amongst, literally surrounded by, all those generous, cowboy-hat wearing Texans.
Most of them never left Houston. Even after being given an opportunity to return to a "rebuilt NOLA". For their lives were better thanks to the blue ocean experience they'd embarked upon.
-------------------------
Compulsive sin is tied to memory.
That's what it comes down to. Memory and calculated risk.
You recall what you experienced prior (& how pleasurably rewarding it was), and from there, you make a decision to undergo a calculated risk to move, once again, in that direction. Your brain does this on repeat.
Memory is integral to the brain's motivation to never charting a new course (blue ocean).
I'm convinced these uber-popular "food noise" reducing drugs are targeting specific food memories within those who're prescribed these medications. And based on what I've read, many of these patients are also seeing a reduction in libido. This leads me to believe, even more, that pleasurable memory is what's being targeted, and that it's creeping over into other areas of patient's brains.
Once patients stop taking these drugs (injecting themselves weekly), the "food noise" returns instantly with exponential volume. This results in patients gaining even more weight (than they were prior to taking the meds) as they make up for lost glutton time. So, in many ways, it's like a medically-assisted fast, and once it's over with, it's time to celebrate at Golden Corral restaurant!
-------------------------
Speaking personally (over the past almost ten years), I've experienced 5% recovery each year of being involved in Samson Society. I never missed a weekly meeting, whether I was attending or hosting. I have attended Samson Society intensive weekends, Samson Society story weekends, National Retreats year after year after year. Plus, I've connected with too many Samson guys to count, listening to story after story whilst praying earnestly with them at every given opportunity.
And I'm still doing this. Each and every week. Headed west. Not looking to either my left or my right.
I've grown to love the journey. It's so not mundane. Plus, I no longer feel enslaved to my brain's previous repetitive pursuits for those memories literally are essentially CLOSED ROADS.. And, I am so proud of myself for what I've done. Especially considering the high stakes involved in never truly seeing any return on my emotional / time investment.
Thanks be to God for Samson Society. It is BY NO MEANS a quick fix, but The Path led Rob in a holistically better direction. My brain is so much better off now than it was in August 2014 (when I first stepped foot into an in-person Samson Society meeting here in the Jackson Metro).
No comments:
Post a Comment