دار محمد Daar Muhammed

However strong and hopeless the situation may have become, there is still hope as long as there is life. This article is not on treatment or even the strategies to avoid addictions but it is on the process that leads to the destructive addictived state.

وَلَئِنِ اتَّبَعْتَ أَهْوَاءَهُمْ مِنْ بَعْدِ مَا جَاءَكَ مِنَ الْعِلْمِ إِنَّكَ إِذًا لَمِنَ الظَّالِمِين

And if you were to follow their desires after what has come to you from knowledge, then you will surely be from the wrongdoers.

Al Baqarah:145

Dopamine is a neurotransmitter in your brain that runs your brain’s reward system. The reward system is a complex circuitry; a network of different regions and jobs taking place. But one thing is fixed- pleasure controls it. The more quick, pleasure-inducing activities you allow yourself, the higher the dopamine levels will be.

A natural and reasonable amount of dopamine is good for your health and happiness. For example, being active and ambitious on useful projects, receiving acknowledgement from your loved ones, having a bowl of your favourite dessert, and spending time outside in the morning sun. These are wins for your mental system and help you keep refreshed, uplifted, and positive.

However, bigger, quicker, and unchecked amounts of continuous pleasure can make your mental system run havoc. A continuous stream of dopamine production will redefine what your norm is— the norm your brain will ask for all the time. It weakens your mental system and makes you increasingly dependent on pleasure. A lot of times, it accelerates without you realising because it is a process that once started, it is difficult to wrap up and return to older conditions. You will find yourself looking for something— anything that can make you feel the ‘hit’ of pleasure again. Such unnatural amounts of pleasure are like a pit, easy to fall into but very difficult to climb out of.

أَفَمَنْ كَانَ عَلَى بَيِّنَةٍ مِنْ رَبِّهِ كَمَنْ زُيِّنَ لَهُ سُوءُ عَمَلِهِ وَاتَّبَعُوا أَهْوَاءَهُم

Is he who is on a clear proof from his Lord, like those for whom their evil deeds that they do are beautified for them, while they follow their own lusts (evil desires)?

Muhammed:14

Feeding these pleasures to the brain, grave and not-so-grave; alcohol, drugs, pornography, music, elaborate food and drink, various comforts, social media scrolling; if done consistently, will rewire the circuitry, make the dopamine levels to be exaggerated and always have you asking for more, more and more. The more you flood your brain with a particular pleasure, the higher its new ‘normal’ keeps becoming. Until soon, it turns to euphoria. After this stage, not providing the brain with what it demands will cause various withdrawal symptoms that are much more difficult to cope with than the prevention of becoming accustomed to such pleasure in the very beginning itself. If the brain’s demands are now not compensated, you will begin feeling lethargic and withdrawn. Allowing your dopamine levels to be consistently high alters the normal levels of what your brain will seek and be content with. This is called tolerance.

Activities that demand longer periods of patience or LDA (low dopamine activities) that carry delayed gratification are now a challenge. The worst the addiction becomes, the harder it will be to focus on LDA and complete them.

بَلْ تُؤْثِرُونَ الْحَيَاةَ الدُّنْيَا • وَالْآخِرَةُ خَيْرٌ وَأَبْقَىٰ

But you prefer the life of this world. While the Hereafter is better and more lasting.

Suratul A’laa:16-17

Once continuous Instagram scrolling becomes a norm, for example, focusing on something different to it; slow, deep and demanding much more concentration will naturally be felt as a ‘challenge’ to the brain. This is because it looks for something similar to what it was familiarised with— doom scrolling— fast, packed with action, and very animated.

Remember, the initial decision to go ahead is one’s conscious choice. It almost always begins with one’s purposeful will to “give it a try and see” or “just only today”. The dangers of the path it is about to lead us into is almost always not thought of beforehand. Until minutes, hours, months, and years pass in the same activity, which was at first, “just only today”.

The Physical Consequences of Addiction

What began as a simple experiment of a “let’s try and see” moment soon leads into a full-blown addiction as the individual’s ability to muster self-control stronger than the cries for a “high” from within him start to weaken. This soon spreads from the mental realm to the physical realm, deeply altering key features in the individual’s decision-making, behaviour, memory, and learning.

وَلَا تَقْرَبُوا الزِّنَا ۖ إِنَّهُ كَانَ فَاحِشَةً وَسَاءَ سَبِيلًا

And come not near to adultery. Verily, it is a Fâhishah (i.e. anything that transgresses its limits: a great sin), and an evil way (that leads one to Hell unless Allâh forgives him).

Al Isra:32

This profound change explains why people with addictions can make surprising decisions, leaving their family and friends in shock. Sometimes, they even pursue their pleasures at the cost of losing their family, their reputation, and their money. It is why they may be seen undoing hard work of years with their own hands once the addiction stage is reached. They witness their life deteriorating but can not stand strong enough in the face of the “pull” for more, more, more because the addiction is so strong. May Allah save us from the pit of addictions and help us recover from and give us the strength to fight any addictive habit we may already have.

وَأَمَّا مَنْ خَافَ مَقَامَ رَبِّهِ وَنَهَى النَّفْسَ عَنِ الْهَوَىٰ• فَإِنَّ الْجَنَّةَ هِيَ الْمَأْوَىٰ

But as for him who feared standing before his Lord, and restrained himself from impure evil desires and lusts.

Verily, Paradise will be his abode.

An Naziat:40-41