Ruben Baler, neuroscientist: “We are guinea pigs, our attention has become a profitable commodity” | Health and wellness

Addictions take over the brain, subjugating it until they force it to abandon the most basic needs. Even food and drink necessary for life are no longer a priority. But the substance or behavior that causes such brain dysfunction is usually only a symptom of a deeper phenomenon. The tip of the iceberg in a complex web of vulnerability and poor mental health, agrees Ruben Baler, a scientist and expert in public health and the neurobiology of addiction at the US National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA): “We need to worry about the important, not just the urgent,” warns neuroscientist.

Bailer (Buenos Aires, 64) knows first-hand the scale of the health crisis. Work on it. And perhaps it is for this reason that he draws the focus beyond the grotesque figures. It is not a substance, but a phenomenon behind it. The key, he argues, is the more or less hidden hands and interests that are pulling the strings of dynamics harmful to public health. From alcohol and tobacco to junk food or digital content on social networks, “there are increasingly powerful forces interested in making these products increasingly addictive and popular,” warns a neuroscientist who visited Palma de Mallorca last week to attend a research. joint congress held by the Spanish Society of Dual Pathology and the World Association of Dual Pathology.

Ask. What happens to the addicted brain?

Reply. It’s actually very simple. The brain is designed to learn what gives it a natural and healthy reward. When something happens that increases our chances of survival, a little dopamine is released, we learn from the experience and are better prepared for the next time. This is a very subtle mechanism that works like any thermostat, between the minimum and maximum values. This is what evolution came up with: a dopamine-regulated thermostat that regulates reward learning. Now, in today’s world, there are things that can skew the thermostat and raise the reward dopamine release values ​​to levels it is not designed for. Let’s say that if sex increases dopamine levels from 1 to 10, methamphetamine increases it to a thousand. But the brain is not designed for this, and if you give meth 10 times, the thermostat may break, and the only reward in this case will be the meth itself. The brain adapts to this, and artificial learning is an addiction.

TO. Why do some brains become addicted and others not when exposed to the same behavior?

R. Each person is a universe, and this diversity also manifests itself in different vulnerabilities and resilience. Inter-individual differences are enormous due to genes and experience. It is not a substance, but a phenomenon behind it. The key, he argues, is the more or less hidden hands and interests that are pulling the strings of dynamics harmful to public health.

TO. What’s the difference when you expose an adult’s or a teenager’s brain to these harmful substances?

R. The teenage brain is programmed; it changes very plastically, quickly and dynamically. All of these changes program the circuits to prepare them for life. This programming is like running; and any small push can make us fall, distort the quality of this programming and send it down an unhealthy, harmful path. Drugs can be very effective in ruining the quality of programs.

There are increasingly powerful forces that are interested in making these products increasingly addictive.”

TO. And what does it mean? What are the biggest risks?

R. One of the most obvious examples is the issue of bizarre or kinky pornography. Adult brains are mature and capable of understanding that although the images are strange, they are not normal or normative and are unlikely to lead to healthy or lasting rewards. A boy of 12, 13 or 14 years old who is exposed to the same type of pornography may experience sexual dysfunction because the brain is programming the circuits that will enable sexual function, and if it is consumed at this critical point, it may become normative that makes normal sex incapable of producing the necessary response because it is already programmed and adapted to weird and strange things. This is why we are starting to see sexual dysfunction in younger and younger people.

TO. How have screens and new technologies affected addiction?

R. It is very difficult to say, because science is very careful, very strict, it has its own methods and its own rhythm. And this pace has nothing to do with the technologies we are trying to prevent, regulate or understand. There is a gap between what we can study and what is relevant from a public health perspective. And this gap creates an opportunity for an experiment of biblical proportions. The potential for an unfavorable relationship between some aspects of social media and mental health is so potentially harmful that we have to be much more careful and deliberate about what we do. At the very least, hold off on screen time until you’re 16.

TO. When you talk about potentially harmful, are you talking about the risk of screen addiction?

R. Yes, because algorithms are addictive. Who came up with this scrolling from the screen? It’s addictive. Algorithms are the dopamine laboratory of platforms that have been studying how to make these platforms more addictive. Especially for children who are so drawn to social comparison, who depend so much on Feedback communities. All this is extremely addictive and gives rise to habits, in many cases pathological.

TO. What can be done?

R. We cannot depend on politicians and we cannot wait for scientists to save us. I think the solution is at the local level, in schools. For now, parents may want to stop using screens in bed because it affects their sleep and it’s a vicious cycle that puts them in risky situations and the lack of sleep changes their very brain. I don’t understand why kids are allowed to bring devices into class because it interferes with learning, class dynamics, and attention. This doesn’t make any sense. First of all, we need to know how the brain works and that we are being used: we are guinea pigs, a profitable commodity. Our attention has become a profitable commodity.

TO. For industry?

R. Yes, we pay the price voluntarily, and the decision is up to everyone: or us. zombie and sleepwalk or take control of your life. Right now we are selling our souls, our personal lives and our brains, each other’s decisions to the devil. I understand how difficult it is because this little device (points to a cell phone) is everywhere and we depend on it, but we have to make an effort to see the good and the bad, to try to take advantage of what it offers us. for our well-being and to reject the harmful effects of these technologies.

TO. NIDA focuses on drug abuse. What substance bothers you the most?

R. The prevalence of alcohol use among adolescents is highly problematic, especially in cultures where it is the norm. This is a problem not only because it is addictive, but also because alcohol has neurodegenerative properties, causing holes in the brain over long periods of use. The problem is that alcohol is combined with the perception of low risk, everyone normalizes it, and nothing happens. But it happens.

We are guinea pigs, our attention has become a profitable commodity.”

TO. What about adults? There is a serious opioid crisis brewing in the United States.

R. Yes, but the crisis teaches us that this is not a drug, it is a phenomenon. These are all symptoms: This epidemic started with prescription drugs (OxyContin, Vicodin…). When we turned off the valve on the doctors prescribing these drugs, the prescription curve went down and the heroin curve began. When heroin levels began to rise, dealers realized they could replace it with something much more powerful, they began creating fentanyl, and synthetic opioids were also introduced. Now the fourth wave involves amphetamine, which is cut with heroin and appears to be mixed with fentanyl, as well as a new drug, xylazine, which prolongs the psychoactive effects of fentanyl. But these are all symptoms. Our concern should not be with what is urgent, but with what is important: why do people use drugs? What brings them to this? Suffering? Hopelessness? Boredom? That’s what you need to attack. We need to look for deep roots.

TO. And what are they?

R. The financialization of the economy is taking place. There are groups that are very interested in business profitability: when it comes to junk food, these are industries that generate incredible profits, but these products are addictive and do not help public health. (Digital content) platforms are addictive. The tobacco, cannabis and alcohol industries generate huge profits. But for the owners, those who sit at shareholder meetings, only the company’s profit is important; public health is not a priority. And in this equation, the population will always lose. There are increasingly powerful forces that are interested in making these products more addictive and more popular.

TO. Is capitalism the problem?

R. No, I think capitalism is the only system that works. I’m not against capitalism, but I am against this form of overflow capitalism that obviously has no responsibility to the citizen.

TO. Is it possible to cure a brain damaged by addiction? Can you go back to the start?

R. No brain, healthy or sick, returns to the beginning. If there is one thing the brain is characterized by, it is constant change. Learning changes the architecture of the brain, but it can be good or bad. And addictions are based on learning through reward. It’s like riding a bike: can you imagine a situation where you forget how to ride a bike? No. Because what has been learned in this way, with such intensity, in these learning trenches of the brain, cannot be unlearned. The dependence is the same; It will never heal, it will never go away. The learning trenches are here to stay. They can be closed with new, better, more passionate, more natural, more evolutionarily appropriate training, but the trenches will remain there, and that is why there is always a risk of relapse.

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