The more pleasure we seek the less happy we get. And we are endlessly being sold means of getting pleasure – because it is addictive.

Pleasure means something I want because it feels good at the time, so I want more, until that ‘want’ becomes a ‘need’.

Happiness means contentment. You feel good and are satisfied. You don’t want or need to buy anything. Pleasure seeking, reward and desire are all linked to the trio of ‘stimulating’ neurotransmitters – dopamine, noradrenaline and adrenaline – and the more activated the more ‘want’ turns into ‘need’.

This is the basis of addiction to caffeine, nicotine, cocaine, stress, gambling, video games, overeating, checking your mobile phone, Facebook likes  and sex. Alcohol is the flip side of all this because it promote GABA which switches off adrenaline. This neurological highway has been hijacked to make us buy the latest iPhone and check your email, Facebook and Instagram every 2 minutes, think more sugar or coffee or another drink will fill that need. The end result is we become addicted consumers and pleasure seekers and less happy as a result.

Happiness is to do with the serotonin pathway which becomes depressed by the dominant over-stimulated dopamine pathway. Depressed serotonin leads to the hallmarks of 21st century living – anxiety, feeling stressed, poor sleep, carb and alcohol cravings.

We are sold various forms of caffeine, sugar and alcohol as the answer to happiness. Think of ‘happy hour’. Addictive substances tend to have a variable reward – they don’t always work so you want more, and end up just needing the substance to feel normal, not good.

These, and many drugs, work by blocking the recycling of the brain’s neurotransmitters. Cocaine is a dopamine reuptake inhibitor. Heroin is an endorphin inhibitor. Sugar, in excess works the same addictive pathways.

Think about your addictions – that is things you couldn’t do without or, if deprived, would start saying ‘I need…’. Do they really make you happy and contented or do they stop you feeling bad/tired/stressed? How long before you need? What’s the difference between Pleasure & Happiness?

How to end addiction is based, first on restoring the brain’s normal ‘reward’ chemistry and promoting healthy serotonin response. A simple example is sunshine. It actually promotes serotonin and happiness.

Many alcohol dependent people have poor dopamine ‘resistance’ meaning their receptors aren’t working properly, which is why they crave alcohol. But this can be transformed with the right nutritional support.

In a simple study a medical center tested 15 various types of addicts checked in to a residential treatment centre for depletion of neurotransmitters such as these then devised an intravenous drip containing all the right amino acids to ‘flood’ the brain with these potent nutrients. The IV nutrient treatment was given for 6 days, followed up with nutritional supplements and good diet (everyone at this treatment centre had the good diet part). The average ‘success’ rate after one year is about 15% of people still clean or sober. Among those who received the personalized nutrition treatment, 10 were drug free at the end of a year, 8 of which have had continuous sobriety.

Dr. Sharmila Majumdar