Overcoming Addiction through Yoga and Meditation

by Ram

Red by Melina Meza

Addiction is a continued repetition of a behavior or practice or action despite adverse consequences that is beyond voluntary control. People with an addiction do not have control over what they are doing, taking or using and thus resort to an addictive behavior that interferes with daily responsibilities including family, work, relationships, or health. People with an addiction cannot control their addictive behavior; they become completely dependent or preoccupied with the substance or behavior, and may not be aware that their behavior is out of control thus causing problems for themselves and others. Examples of addictions include but are not limited to smoking, drug abuse, exercise addiction, food addiction, sexual addiction, computer addiction and gambling. The difference between addiction and habit is clear. Addiction is a psychological/physical component where the individual is unable to control the aspects of the addiction while a habit is done by choice and the individual is in a position to stop it successfully if he or she wants to. Habits do not have adverse consequences or a serious psychological/physical component as with an addiction.

Furthermore, with addictions, the body and the mind “wire in” the continuous repetitive task by incorporating it as a “normal” function. This creates the conditions of tolerance and withdrawal. When the addiction is to smoking or drug abuse, the body continually adapts to the substance and requires increasingly larger doses to achieve the distinctive effects. This is “tolerance” On the other hand, “withdrawal” refers to physical and psychological symptoms that arise when reducing or abstaining from the addictive behavior on which the body has become dependent. Withdrawal symptoms kick in due to biochemical and hormonal imbalances due to the lack of the addictive behavior. Thus, an addictive behavior may be associated with an immediate gratification but is also characterized by a delayed harmful effect (short-term reward versus long-term penalty).

The consequences of an addictive behavior on the body and brain include a large range of injuries, health problems, brain damage, and birth defects. Substance abuse and dependence trigger negative outcomes including injuries, illnesses, accidents, domestic violence, disabilities, medical problems and death. Treatment options include self-help groups, detoxification-inducing drugs to combat addiction, antibody therapy, vaccine therapy, and deep brain stimulation among others. However, true recovery is a very long journey. Some individuals will remain steadfast, some will relapse, and some will always be “chronic relapsers.”

But now there’s the good news that rehabilitation therapies that use yoga and meditation are likely to have a higher success rate when it comes to helping overcome addiction and relapse. The practice of yoga and meditation exert positive influence on addictive behaviors and helps addicts to understand their true nature. In addition, yoga and meditation helps addicts develop a detached awareness of thoughts since any attachment to them becomes the cause for suffering. Individuals with an addictive behavior and who have a regular practice of yoga and meditation have less blame and disrespect toward themselves and exhibit more respectful, caring, and loving behaviors.

Yoga and meditation also appear to be beneficial in specific type of eating disorders that constitute addiction as they change the addict’s perspective of their own disturbing personalities. In one such study, Exploring the therapeutic effects of yoga and its ability to increase quality of life, female yoga practitioners not only exhibited positive feelings and sense of well-being but they also reported less self objectification, greater satisfaction with their body images and reduced messy eating attitudes compared to non-yoga practitioners. Similarly in a recently published paper A computational hypothesis for allostasis: delineation of substance dependence, conventional therapies, and alternative treatments, a group of scientists used a computational model of addiction, a literature review and an in silico experiment to suggest that rehabilitation strategies that include yoga and meditation with drug and behavior therapies are more helpful than all other methods to help people overcome addiction. The authors argue that a combination therapy that include yoga and meditation alter the reward-anti-reward states of the addict’s neural network system, which in turn help to provide higher cessation rates and lower relapse rates. In addition to overcoming addiction, yoga and meditation also stimulate the three aspects of healthy aging namely: decreased morbidity, independence and mental equilibrium or equanimity (see Meditation: Effects on Gene Expression). What a cheap but effective method to empower ourselves. A perfect New Year’s resolution is to incorporate yoga and meditation into our lives! Don’t you agree?

Looking Ahead to a New Year

While we just turned the page of our calendars to a new year, GBMC is actually half way through its fiscal year. In 2014, we have much to look forward to as we stay in action on change with an operating plan that moves us toward our vision and the achievement of our four aims.

In the second half of our fiscal year, we will continue to build the patient-centered medical home. I am excited to see this really come alive this year as we begin construction on the new Family Care Associates office – the first office specifically designed as a patient-centered medical home. Our patients can also expect to see us continue to expand office hours in many of our primary care practices to better serve our patients.

Here’s what else we can look forward to in the coming months at GBMC:

• We will build on our success in 2013 and continue the strengthening of our outstanding surgical services at GBMC. We are delighted that Orthopedic Specialists of Maryland have now joined Greater Baltimore Medical Associates!
• Greater Baltimore Health Alliance will be reflecting on how healthy our patients are by disease state through the development of patient registries for chronic conditions such as asthma, hypertension, diabetes and obesity. These patient registries will help our practices better coordinate and manage the care of patients with chronic diseases.
• We are gearing up our employee wellness initiative to make it easier for our employees to get healthier, and stay healthy.
• We will be working to develop tighter and richer connections with other care providers such as our partners at Johns Hopkins Healthcare to give GBMC’s Accountable Care Organization - GBHA- the ability to provide even better, more coordinated care to our patients.
• We will be taking GBHA to the next level as a contracting entity beyond just the Medicare Shared Savings Program in 2014. We will be inviting specialist physicians on our medical staff to formally join GBHA so we can contract for them.
• We are excited about hosting a special breakfast meeting in March to introduce GBMC’s transformation as a healthcare system to business owners in Baltimore County.
• We are also excited about completing our negotiations with the Health Services Cost Review Commission (HSCRC) on their new payment model that will pay us on a global budget. This provides us with the opportunity to deploy resources where people need it most, coordinate patient’s care, keep people healthier and keep people out of the hospital when this is possible.

As we begin a new calendar year and continue to forge ahead with this fiscal year, there’s much to be excited about as we work even harder toward achieving our vision.

What do you look forward to from the GBMC system in 2014?