PENINSULA NEWS
Intelligence or Personality: What Determines Addiction?

By M.S. Bellgraph

In "I Quit Smoking, Now Give Me a Cigarette," published here in the July 16 edition, I spilled the beans about my nasty cigarette habit. I had been struggling with a quit attempt for some time and confessed to readers that I continued to partake. I also shared that my father had died of lung cancer at the age of 59. However, his death had no effect on my habit.

In response to my column, a reader wrote a letter to my editor asking, "Just how stupid is she?" How stupid am I, readers? Well, my IQ is 143, so I don't think I'm all that dumb.

Someone calling me stupid bothered me less than having someone equate a person's intelligence with whether one could become addicted to a dangerous substance. Is it only dumb people who do stupid things? If so, then I would have to believe that smart people do not exist. We're reminded constantly by experts from every imaginable field of all the dangerous behaviors we as human beings continue to participate in. How many times do we need to hear that we are impaired drivers when we drive and talk on the cell phone at the same time? Yet, how many people have quit that nasty habit?

As for cigarette smoking, I think most smokers know how harmful it is. Unless a smoker can't read (now that would constitute one's intelligence playing a crucial factor), he'd have to be seriously unaware to not see the surgeon general's warning written on the side of the pack.

Everyone, even the smart people, will do something harmful, destructive and outright stupid at one point in their lives.

"Anybody can become dependent upon a substance," says Greg Allen, director of Freedom4U. Allen has been a licensed marriage and family therapist for more than 20 years, and has a counseling practice in Malaga Cove Plaza. He also is the program director for the Thelma McMillen Center for Adult and Adolescent Chemically Dependency Treatment at Torrance Memorial Medical Center.

"Dependency, also called addiction, cuts across all levels of society," he continues. "There are executives, male and female, as well as people struggling to make a living who get dependent upon a substance. Sometimes higher intelligence can become a barrier for acknowledging one has a problem and seeking out help for it."

What does play a factor, says Allen, is a genetic predisposition to addiction. If someone in your family is struggling or was struggling with an addiction, it is likely that you could become addicted to a substance. It doesn't necessarily mean you will. But you may find that if you try it, like your relative, you'll probably like it. I began smoking years after my father died, so I don't believe he was an influence. Something triggered a void within me, and my personality -- probably a part I inherited from him -- responded with a cigarette to fill it. One cigarette one night led to two on another, and so on until it became a half-pack-a-day habit.

"Often individuals can manage or control their use of a substance for a while and then something changes in their brain," says Allen. "They suddenly have to drink the whole bottle or find themselves using more and more often whatever substance they previously only used occasionally. Some people use it once and are immediately addicted (an overwhelming craving of the substance and behavior focused upon wanting to use daily)."

Allen says it also is important to know how substances, such as nicotine and alcohol, change the way our brain works. The brain has chemicals called neurotransmitters. Alcohol, food or nicotine -- one of the most addictive substances -- activates the reward and pleasure centers in the brain, and the neurotransmitters are either increased or decreased, causing feelings of euphoria, mood elevation, excitement, relaxation or a decrease in pain.

"These are powerful effects that make us want to repeat whatever caused them," he says. "The problem is, it's a counterfeit high. The substances fool the brain into thinking it's the only way to get these feel-good feelings and thoughts. This repeated behavior causes the person's healthy natural brain chemistry to cease working. The result for the substance-dependent person is that when real life joys, successes, experiences come their way, their brain doesn't work to make them feel good.

"We as humans tend to repeat behaviors that make us feel good," Allen continues. "We also will do the same thing again if we're getting social or personal reward for it."

For instance, if people tend to be uncomfortable in a social situation -- whether they're shy, have an anxiety disorder or anti-social tendencies -- they may turn to a glass of wine or other cocktail to make them feel more comfortable. A glass of wine or two may loosen someone up enough to join in a conversation. They'll likely use the same trick in future situations.

"The problem here is the person isn't comfortable in their own skin -- with who they are," he says.

The good news, he says, is that the brain can heal itself, but only after months of sobriety. And, according to the American Cancer Society, those who quit smoking will substantially cut their risk of early death and disease.

So the answer isn't to get smarter, but to begin loving yourself, to value yourself for the person you are. Addiction is a tough and ongoing battle, where even baby steps in freeing yourself are a major victory.