Posted by Todd (216.199.4.43) on November 21, 1999 at 19:00:30:
In Reply to: brain chemistry and addictions and clusters posted by Sonya on November 21, 1999 at 18:02:09:
For having the courage to open a topic which might well lead to some considerable debate.
I am PERSONALLY convinced that clusterheads are predominately addictive personalities by nature. Nope, absolutely no concrete evidence to substantiate my belief. Our survey currently shows 55% of us admit to smoking. The option to answer that one used to smoke isn't included, so it's likely the number is even higher. Compared to 27% of the North American population (yes, I know we have international respondents to the survey, but I haven't found smoking data for other countries yet) that's very high.
74% of us consume alcohol. I don't recall the US figures for this, but last I checked we're high on that also.
Margi and I discussed this whole subject at length one night. Mike and I both exhibit strong signs of addictive personalities in numerous ways. drummer and Elaine only half-jokingly referred to their ch.com addictions in recent posts.
Now, as garyg would say, this might be a puzzle piece, but it's not particularly meaningful by itself. There are many, many addicts who do not have clusters. Most likely, not all clusters are addictives. BUT...your points about seratonin and its possible relationships to addiction and clusters definitely deserve investigation, IMHO. The answer, when it is found, will undoubtably be complex. Something like IF you have a predisposition to clusters (gray matter? genes? who knows?) AND, IF you have a seratonin processing disorder AND, IF something else we haven't even thought to investigate yet, THEN, under the right circumstances (light change sensitivity??)you MIGHT get clusters and you MIGHT also exhibit addictive traits. Please note that that sentence (run on as it is) began with SOMETHING LIKE. Not presenting a theory, but trying to illustrate the simplest of the complexity I believe we are dealing with.
KTSSU, and keep thinking! New approachs will only come from original ideas. Thanks!
T