This is why it is so difficult for some people to stop using or drinking; they are fighting against their own brain
Continuing to use the drug or alcohol will tend to exaggerate this distortion, which is why stopping-a behavior-is necessary to reverse the disease. Eventually, your brain prioritizes your drug of choice higher than even food. This is why it is so difficult for some people to stop using or drinking; they are fighting against their own brain. This is illustrated in the video, "Pleasure Unwoven." Kevin McCauley, M.D. explains that dopamine plays a major role. Dopamine is released in your brain to teach it that something you did or ingested is better than expected, so it might be important for survival. Dopamine also plays a role in memory, attention, problem solving, and in anticipation of pleasure. Dopamine is also released during adverse circumstances or stimuli. That might explain why when you are hungry, angry, lonely, or tired-all stressful circumstances-you reach for the solution that you remember that relieved the stress before: your drug of choice or alcohol. Taking your drug of choice or drinking then results in more dopamine release, leaving you to feel better, and "teaching" you that you did the "right thing" to relieve your stress. But we know that the consequences which have resulted from drinking and using drugs are often too much to bear. So, in this case, your brain is telling you the wrong thing.