Around that time there were a number of anti-drug commercials on TV, including one where a rat was placed in a cage with two water bottles, one with pure water and the other laced with heavy narcotics like heroin and cocaine.
The rat quickly became addicted to the drugged water and died a short time thereafter. If only he had said no!
However Vancouver psychology professor Dr. Bruce Alexander saw something amiss with this experiment. He knew that rats are intelligent and social creatures and that placing a rat in a kind of non-stimulating solitary confinement was highly unnatural.
So Dr. Alexander set out with an experiment of his own. He created a kind of rodent utopia he dubbed the "Rat Park." In it the rats had companions and plenty of toys, treadmills and food they liked. They were also presented with the option of the two water bottles, drugged and pure.
In Rat Park the rats would sample the drugged water but none became addicted.
Dr. Alexander, whose area of specialty is addictions, recalled that many US soldiers who served in Vietnam developed significant drug and alcohol habits during their tours of duty as that wartime environment was extremely stressful.
There was also cheap and easy access to a wide variety of mind altering substances including opiates which are native to Southeast Asia. In fact, health authorities of the day were quite worried that America would be overwhelmed by addicted veterans when the war was over.
However the vast majority of Vietnam veterans discontinued their substance abuse when they returned home with little or no outside help. The change in their "cages," from war to returning the relative peace and tranquility of civilian life, was enough for many of them to let go of the substance abuse habit on their own.
So Dr. Alexander next did an experiment where he intentionally addicted rats by placing them in solitary just like the one in the commercial and offering them the option of the pure or drugged water.
After they were addicted he placed them in the Rat Park and soon their addictions ceased after a brief period of withdrawal. The happier environment saved them.
This "happy cage" paradigm is challenging traditional notions of addiction and recovery where the predominant beliefs have been that a) addiction is a moral failing or b) some drugs hijack the brain and its not the user's fault.
Now sometimes people do not have much control as they would like over their external environment, to make a happier cage so to speak because of economic or social factors. However, training in self-hypnosis and mindfulness meditation can help someone adapt more comfortably to whatever "cage" they are presently in.
A free, confidential phone consultation is available, call (732) 714-7040 to learn more.
Source material for this article: John Hari's book "Chasing the Scream"
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