What alcohol, cocaine and social networks have in common

What do they have in common cocaineil gamblingl’alcohol e Instagram? It seems like a bizarre question, yet there is an answer, and it is biological: they all act on the same circuit in the brain, what scientists call ‘reward system’ — a very ancient evolutionary mechanism, designed to push us towards what is good for us, which in certain conditions gets stuck and turns into the engine of a dependence. The professor explains it in a simple, almost didactic way Giovanni Martinotti in ‘Brain and addictions. From drugs to social networks: the science of addiction (Zanichelli, Keys to reading series – 154 pages, price 13.70 euros).

In our brain there exists the reward systemand ‘pleasure circuit’ which regulates desire, gratification and motivation, essential to orient ourselves towards what makes us feel good and helps us live. But this system can alter to the point of transforming the search for pleasure into an increasingly rigid, repetitive and difficult to control need: theaddictiona term coined in 1919 by the English doctor Sir William Collinswhich took on the meaning of “behavioral addictions“.

The brain and the causes of addiction

Giovanni Martinottifull professor of Psychiatry at the University ‘G. d’Annunzio’ of Chieti and professor in British and Italian universities, is one of the leading Italian experts in the sector, author of over 350 scientific articles with impact factor and secretary of the Ecology, Psychiatry and Mental Health section of the World Psychiatric Association. In his book he dismantles from the first pages the most hard-to-die prejudice about addictions: that they are due to a lack of willpower. In fact, genetic factors, personal history, age, social environment, availability of substances and life experiences come into play. Someone who is addicted to alcohol is not a weak character: he is a person whose brain has undergone a real, measurable, documentable change. This distinction is not just scientific — it is first and foremost moral, and it changes the way we look at the problem and those who suffer from it.

Tolerance, withdrawal and craving

Martinotti guides the reader through the fundamental mechanisms ofaddiction — tolerance, withdrawal, craving — with a clarity that never sacrifices precision. The cravingthat compelling and almost physical craving that anyone who has dealt with an addiction knows well, is explained as the result of precise neurological changesnot as a moral weakness. There tolerance — the fact that over time it takes increasingly larger doses to obtain the same effect — is the consequence of how the brain adapts, trying to re-establish its balance. THE’abstinencewith its often devastating symptoms, is the body’s response to the removal of a substance that it has learned to consider necessary.

Behavioral addictions and social networks

The most original and current part of the book is the one dedicated to behavioral addictions: addictions do not only concern substances, but also drugs, alcohol, tobacco and, in different forms, behaviors such as gambling or the compulsive use of digital technologies. The chapter on social network it is the one that will probably cause the most discussion, because it brings to the scientific level a debate that until now had taken place almost exclusively on the cultural one. Digital platforms, explains Martinotti, are designed to exploit the same reward system activated by substances: notifications, likes, infinite scrolling produce releases of dopamine that the brain learns to compulsively seek. There social media addiction it is therefore, to an increasing extent, a real neurological phenomenon.

Awareness as the first step

This book – and it is paradoxical – will be read by many on a tablet screen, with notifications arriving every three minutes. It’s not a problem: Martinotti doesn’t ask for conversions, he asks awareness. And awareness always begins with the same uncomfortable question: why can’t I stop? Now, at least, there is one scientific answer. Using it is another matter.