Pandora, Swiss Papers and Addictive Disorders

The revelations presented in the reports called Pandora and the Swiss Papers only served as an occasion for me to ask again, independently of the debates about the distinction between legitimate and illicitly acquired wealth, what drives people to accumulate money and assets that exceed their and their descendants' ability to consume them. and spend in their lifetime.

What the hell does anyone in this world do with so many luxury villas, cars, planes, trucks, yachts, stocks, huge sums of money in multiple bank accounts, etc.? Okay, we know what money acquires and enables, but we rarely think to descend to a deeper level, to the foundations of this mindless obsession. And that is neurobiology. What is she telling us?

As with alcohol, drugs, tobacco, medicine, food, sex, gambling or work, one can become addicted to money.

This is manifested through all behaviors that spring from an obsession with acquiring, accumulating, multiplying money or spending it.

Just as an alcoholic organizes his days around the acquisition and consumption of alcohol, a money addict lives only to accumulate, increase, spend and start again, in a circle.

The beauty of neuroscience is that it confirms many of the insights of the great minds of yesteryear. So that Spinoza was right when he classified greed in his Ethics as a disease of the mind, which unfortunately is not identified as a disease.

The fact that money rules the world, that it "turns where the drill will not", that is, distorts and corrupts all life processes and characters, has become a common place, something that is taken for granted, that we don't really like, but we believe that it is natural to man, so we don't have where but to accept that fact as our factory error.

So is the war.

Which, many smart people will say, also has to do with money.

According to the definition of Gabor Mate (In the world of a hungry spirit - A close encounter with addiction, Kontrast, Belgrade, 2019), addiction is any repeated behavior, whether related to substances or not, in relation to which a person feels compelled to continue it, regardless of the negative consequences it has on the life of that person or other people.

The distinguishing features of any addiction are: internal compulsion, preoccupation, impaired control, persistence, relapse and craving.

Research conducted on both animals and humans has shown that shared brain systems, brain chemicals, and pharmacological mechanisms form the basis of all addictions.

All addictions, whether substance-related or not, share states of mind such as craving and shame and behaviors such as deception, manipulation and relapse.

However, as far as shame is concerned, unlike alcoholism or drug addiction, the obsession with money is not only not an object of contempt or condemnation, but is now socially accepted, justified, encouraged and glorified.

Mate goes on to explain that although there are as many forms of addiction as there are human activities, neurobiologically there is only one process of addiction.

The same brain circuits are damaged in all forms of addiction.

All addicts, whether they are addicted to psychoactive substances or behavioral addictions, experience the same mental and emotional processes when dealing with their addiction.

Then the thinking parts of the brain are simply turned off, the so-called executive centers. Research has found, for example, that during shopping, electrical discharges in brain circuits that govern pleasure are heightened, as opposed to circuits of rationality.

Neurologist Michael Deppe says that "the more expensive the product, the crazier the customers become."

And when they buy really expensive products, the part of the brain that deals with rational thinking reduces its activity to almost zero.

Although the form and focus of addictions may vary, the same set of dynamics is at the root of all of them: addictions are not simply collections of different disorders, but manifestations of an underlying disorder that can express itself in many ways.

The addictive process governs all addictions and involves the same neurological and psychological malfunctions.

In a futile attempt to fill and fill the inner emptiness, addicts combine two or more addictions in a high percentage.

Research cited by Mate revealed that sex addicts, pathological gamblers, shopaholics, workaholics, etc. they fall under the influence of other destructive habits.

It is not surprising then that "lovers" often have problems with other addictions (promiscuity, alcohol, drugs, kleptomania, gambling, risky behaviors, etc.).

This, says Mate, is because addictions can never truly replace the life needs they temporarily depose. The false needs they serve, no matter how often they are satisfied, cannot fulfill us.

The brain can never, so to speak, feel that it has had enough, that it can relax and continue with other important tasks.

It's like if you were hungry after a whole meal and had to immediately focus all your energy on getting food again. Some money addicts develop a phobia of missing it, no matter how much money they already have.

The mechanism of addiction, the constant see-saw between craving and reward, is intense and significantly interferes with reasoning abilities. And not only reasoning, but also endangers emotional abilities, a healthy emotional connection with people and the world.

It is not money that rules our world and our lives, but the disorder of money addiction.

Is the institutional remedy to prevent such addicts from attaining or holding on to public positions that allow them to feed their addiction to the detriment of society as a whole? And what happens when the same people sit in the competent institutions?

The author is a philosopher and psychotherapist

(danas.rs)