• WELCOME
  • ACEs
  • ATTACHMENT STYLES
  • PERSONALITY TYPES
  • BRAIN FUNCTIONS
  • CORE FEARS
  • DEFENSE MECHANISMS
  • COGNITIVE DISTORTIONS
  • ADDICTIONS & COPING
  • TiBTP © INTAKE ASSESSMENT
  • WELCOME
  • ACEs
  • ATTACHMENT STYLES
  • PERSONALITY TYPES
  • BRAIN FUNCTIONS
  • CORE FEARS
  • DEFENSE MECHANISMS
  • COGNITIVE DISTORTIONS
  • ADDICTIONS & COPING
  • TiBTP © INTAKE ASSESSMENT

BRAIN FUNCTIONS INVOLVED IN ADDICTION AND CHANGE

  • Includes the Ventral tegmental area (VTA) and Nucleus accumbens (NAc).
  • Central reward pathway reinforcing pleasurable and addictive behaviors.
  • Highly active in habit formation, craving, and relapse.

  • Governs decision making, impulse control, and long-term planning.
  • Often underactive or dysregulated during addiction, especially under stress.
  • Strengthens as individuals engage in preparation, action, and maintenance. 

  • Detects threats and triggers fear-based emotional responses.
  • Overactive in trauma histories, fueling hypervigilance and reactivity.
  • Can sabotage change by activating fight, flight, or freeze responses. 

  • Encodes memory and contextual associations.
  • Links environmental cues with cravings and emotional responses.
  • Heightens relapse risk by triggering old behavior patterns when familiar. 

  • Monitors errors, self-awareness, and emotional conflict.
  • Integrates logic and emotion during decision-making under stress.
  • Supports insight/motivation during contemplation and preparation stages. 

HOW DOES THE BRAIN RESPOND DURING EACH STAGE OF CHANGE?

  • Limbic system dominates; reward circuitry overrides logic.
  • Prefrontal cortex (PFC) activity reduced under stress.
  • Denial and minimization protect from threat of change. 

  • Anterior cingulate cortex (ACC) and hippocampus weigh pros and cons.
  • Conflict grows between dopamine-driven reward system and PFC goals.
  • Anxiety and ambivalence emerge as old neural pathways resist change. 

  • PFC strengthens as goal-directed thinking increases.
  • New synaptic pathways form through repeated planning and visualization.
  • Dopamine release shifts toward anticipation of healthy behaviors.

  • Neural plasticity expands as new behaviors are reinforced.
  • Old reward pathways weaken through nonuse (synaptic pruning).
  • PFC-amygdala regulation improves with stress management practice. 

  • PFC dominance supports long-term planning and self-regulation.
  • New habit circuits solidify through repetition and myelination.
  • Reward system recalibrates to reinforce adaptive behaviors.

  • Triggers activate hippocampus and amygdala, hijacking reward pathways.
  • Cravings spike as the PFC goes temporarily offline.
  • Effective coping strategies are needed to regain control/prevent regression. 

  • WELCOME
  • ADDICTIONS & COPING
  • TiBTP © INTAKE ASSESSMENT

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