Book Review: "The Craving Mind"
"From Cigarettes to Smart Phones to Love - Why We Get Hooked and How We Can Break Bad Habits"
I am a firm believer that we all have cravings, and steady addictions in our everyday life. Whether it be: food, video games, drugs, sex, social media, working out, etc. In “The Craving Mind” Judson Brewer breaks down how we can become addicted and gives insight into ways to breaking the habit.
“addiction is continued use, despise adverse consequences”
It is part of our evolutionary make up. Performing certain actions gives us a short-term reward (nice hit of dopamine) which makes us happy and oftentimes leads us to wanting more.
We have to be careful of this dopamine shot because it can be administered by nearly anything, and lead to us going out of our way to satisfy our cravings.
Each time we reinforce the habit loop of “trigger / craving / reward” we are in a sense training ourselves to adopt a new habit.
From Chapter 1:
“In World War II, four cigarettes were given to soldiers at each meal as part of their K rations, a practice that continued until 1975. If I wanted to get someone hooked on cigarettes, that is what I would do. Wartime being a whopper of a stressor (trigger), I would make sure someone could easily smoke cigarettes (behavior) so that they could feel better (reward). Even after a war was over, the addiction already having taken hold, memories, flashbacks, or even simple everyday stressors would keep them coming back for more.”
Triggers are notifications that inform you to take action
It then initiates a specific behavior to take place,
Which leads to your ideal reward
So, in terms of social media.
Your phone goes off with a notification prompting you to take a look at Instagram. (trigger)
You open up Instagram, view your notification and continue swiping along. (behavior)
You realize you have new likes and comments or even maybe just new photos that your friends posted for you to view and you are hit with a dopamine shot. A happy, positive feeling after viewing your phone. (reward)
The more often we do this, the more ingrained this behavior becomes in our brain. To the point to where we find ourselves viewing our phone constantly throughout the day in search of that dopamine shot.
What can help mediate these addictions?
Mindfulness / Awareness. Seeing what happens when these situations present themselves and acting accordingly. When we become aware of an object or craving it is much harder to remain identified with it.
In “The Craving Mind” Judson Brewer mentions a method he likes to use when he has found himself getting caught up in obsessive thinking.
RAIN
R: Recognize / Relax … into what is arising (for example, your craving)
A: Accept / Allow … it to be there
I: Investigate … bodily sensations, emotions, and thoughts.
“What is happening in my body or mind at this moment?”
N: Note … what is happening from moment to moment
How may this relate to social media?
You open your phone and notice the notifications flashing in front of you. Relax, that is what phones were made for. To distract us and pull our attention towards them. Accept the fact that you opened your phone.
Now, investigate how this makes you feel. Are you anxious to scroll up/down your feed. Are your emotions high because you have a handful of likes waiting for you? What exactly is going through your mind?
How we relate to our thoughts and feelings makes all the difference.
Now, you may be thinking…. “if we are addicted to something why don’t we just avoid it altogether?” While that may work for few individuals, you have to remember that an addiction has become ingrained in your head through multiple experiences with it.
What we are trying to do is bring awareness to the situation so you can see how the behavior and the craving are related. If you are able to take a step back and notice what is going on you can then proceed to make positive changes to the habit loop.
This book does a deep dive into a wide variety of scenarios where the habit loop can take over and amplify our addictions. From being addicted to: ourselves, technology, love, distractions, and even thinking.
For me it really hit home with social media because I think that is one of my most present addictions at the moment. Opening my phone up hundreds of times a day in the hopes that I get a dopamine rush from a “like, comment, or follow”.
Now I am trying to bring awareness and “pause” every time I find myself on my phone for no apparent reason. I am working towards replacing this habit loop with a positive action that brings value to my life. Opposed to swiping up and down for hours and double tapping on pictures constantly.
My biggest takeaway?
One, that it is completely normal to become addicted to certain behaviors and actions. It is how we learned from the very beginning of time if a behavior or action is “good or bad”.
Two, that we have everything we need to conquer these addictions. Of course if your addiction happens to be a hard drug you may need additional help and I am not trying to tell you to avoid it. But for many things if you can follow the RAIN method mentioned above of bring awareness into your moment and acknowledging what is going on. You can slowly start to unravel the habit loop that you have ingrained in your brain for so long.
“In any type of addictive behavior, reactivity builds its strength through repetition—resistance training. Each time we look for our ‘likes’ on Facebook, we lift the barbell of ‘I am.’ Each time we smoke a cigarette in reaction to a trigger, we do a push-up of ‘I smoke.’ Each time we excitedly run off to a colleague to tell her about our latest and greatest idea, we do a sit-up of ‘I’m smart.’ That is a lot of work.”
I highly recommend this book to anyone and everyone. It has led to me looking at my daily schedule and seeing what habit loops I have playing in my everyday life.
I believe we are all addicted to something, and this book can help bring awareness to what exactly you may be hooked to.
I hope you enjoyed this review, if so. Please share it with someone you think could be of benefit. And if you have any recommended books or articles you would like to me take a look at. Please fill out the form below.