The Pouyan Method - Brain Repair Therapy for Depression, PTSD, Addiction

A: Scientists have many questions about the brain, and they’re still trying to find out how it relates to addiction. It’s essential to study what happens to the brain when inhaling, injecting, or consuming substances. It’s also significant to see how drugs lead to compulsive seeking.

Intensive use of drugs causes the alteration of the biochemistry and anatomy of neurons, affecting their functioning. When abusing drugs, the brain adjusts to the saturation, whereas when no longer abusing, it remains bereft and asks for new homeostasis. The brain of people who quit drugs may present a constant risk for relapse. People with addiction no longer look to get high; they only want to feel normal.

That is why, at the Holistic Sanctuary, we start by repairing the brain. Our proven methods take the brain to the pre-addicted state, where it does not feel craving.

A: Professionals use MRI scans to see how the drugs affect various areas of the brain, helping understand addiction. MRI scans in people with drug addictions will light up as an answer to activity in the brain’s space for a reward.

The primary purpose is to control the patient’s answer with therapy for developing better therapies for substance use disorders. At the Holistic Sanctuary, the brain scans sustain the addiction diagnosis and help patients see the improvement after completing the treatment.

When people abuse drugs and alcohol for a long time, the brain has to suffer, and MRI scans show the changes. When people have to face compensation, “stop” and “go” systems are operating. A constant struggle between the two systems is revealed in patients with addiction. Using MRI scans, allows professionals to discover which therapies give results and which don’t.

Drugs alter the reception, receiving, and processing of signals. For example, the chemical structure of heroin and marijuana will activate neurons, as it resembles to the natural neurotransmitters chemical structure. just because the drugs resemble the drug’s chemicals, doesn’t mean that they will activate the neurons the same way the natural neurotransmitter do; abnormal messages will appear as well. Cocaine or amphetamine will make the neurons eliminate incredibly high amounts of natural neurotransmitters; they instead amplify or disrupt the regular communication between neurons.

The cerebral cortex, brain stem, and the limbic system are the areas affected by drugs. The limbic system is activated when we’re doing something that leads to pleasure. Positive and negative emotions are controlled in the field of the brain, explaining the impact of drugs that change the mood.

Several studies on functional imaging revealed that it’s the brain’s frontal areas that are activated during drug intoxication or drug cravings. It’s the brain circuits related to the reward (nucleus accumbens), memory (amygdala and hippocampus), motivation (orbitofrontal cortex), and cognitive control (cingulate gyrus and prefrontal cortex). Get the details on The addicted human brain: insights from imaging studies at https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC155054/.

New research revealed that the cerebellum, which has been involved in motor control, could also be necessary for social and reward-seeking behaviors.

Several studies showed that in patients with addictive behavior, the cerebellum no longer functions correctly. MRI studies also revealed that the cerebellum of people with addiction is hyperactive, due to the answer to stimuli.

Neurochemical studies revealed that a significant and quick rise in dopamine is linked to the reinforcing effects of drugs. In long-term abuse and in the withdrawal phase, brain dopamine function is lowered, and the decreases are related to malfunctioning of the prefrontal regions. The alterations of brain dopamine function will reduce the sensitivity to natural reinforcers, as dopamine links the reinforcing effects of natural enhances and on change of frontal cortical functions.

Throughout drug intoxication or cravings, the frontal regions are activated. That’s just a part of the pattern, including brain circuits connected to the reward (nucleus accumbens), cognitive control, memory, and motivation.

The memory of the anticipated reward leads to over-activation of the compensation and motivation while altering the activity in the cognitive control area. The patient becomes unable to block the drive to seek and take the drug, which leads to compulsive drug consumption. For therapists, it means that a multi-prong view is necessary. The therapies have to diminish the rewarding abilities of drugs while improving the rewarding abilities of alternative reinforcers. The treatments also have to enhance cognitive control and to affect the connections learned through conditioning.

For decades, it was believed that one needs at least 21 days breaking a habit. Psychologists state that people need 21 days or so for consciously break and create a new pattern, breaking the addiction takes longer than that. It’s one of the reasons all programs at the Holistic Sanctuary last at least 28 days.

However, there is scientific evidence that the brain needs 90 days to reset and eliminate the effects of drugs. A study at Yale University revealed that it takes a person 90 days to finally engage in logical operations and make decisions, as the brain’s prefrontal cortex is affected by drugs.

The study explains the higher chance for success of 90-days programs, as compared to short term programs. Throughout the 90 days, the brain will have time to reset itself. The brain wants to heal, and the therapies at the Holistic Sanctuary re-wire the brain, taking it to the pre-addicted state.

Many researchers see addiction as a health condition of the brain circuits related to stress, pleasure, and decision-making functions. Even if the addictive substances come in many ways, they will all affect the same patterns of behavior and the same circuitry.

For many years, researchers have been illustrating the chemical and electrical circuits that are found in addiction. Therapies today aim to heal the neural pathways, and the therapies at the Holistic Sanctuary give that results. After the addiction treatment, the images of brains show the differences between the brain before and after the procedure.

The coffee enemas, the therapy massages, and even nutrition are some of the many therapies that help the brain get to the pre-addicted stage.

Maia Szalavitz is a fantastic writer who, once again, highlighted the necessity to no longer see addiction as a moral failing or as a choice. She notes that professionals should stop seeing addiction as a chronic disease, but as a developmental disorder. According to Szalavitz, dependence depends on learning and timing and resembles autism, dyslexia, or ADHD.

The author highlights that addiction is instead learned and one’s cultural, social, and individual development generate it. At the Holistic Sanctuary, the professionals’ efforts aim to discover the deep roots of the addiction. Every patient is analyzed, and every treatment plan is customized to the patient’s needs, medical history, personality, and values. The Pouyan Method is adjusted to every patient’s particularity, as our professionals understood the importance of custom treatment in addiction.

Szalavitz notes that the addicted brain took the various path of development, which doesn’t necessarily mean that it’s broke. She highlights the importance of learning in addiction and treatment. Like the professionals conducting the Pouyan Method, she speaks about the importance of understanding and compassion in addiction treatment.

Images prove the brain recovery from dependency, and the professionals at the Holistic Sanctuary provide it too. The brain of patients when entering the center looks different from when they complete the program. The dopamine transporter levels (DAT) in the reward region should activate normally once the recovery process ends.

Adolescents finishing treatment for alcohol addiction showed better performances in the brain in terms of behavioral disinhibition and negative emotionality. Lisdahl and colleagues note in The Effects of Regular Cannabis Use on Neurocognition in Adolescents and Young Adults that recovery in the prefrontal cortex appears after abstinence. When people restrain from alcohol, they show improved executive functions, short-term memory, and larger cerebellar volumes.

The studies are still ongoing, but the damage of drugs or alcohol can be reversed. Physical activity improved the brain’s functioning, and neuroplasticity and the Pouyan Method relies on them.

Opioid addiction alters one’s working memory functions, persisting throughout the treatment ad abstinence. Working memory is a cognitive function developed by opioid addiction, while it’s fundamental for monitoring ad controlling the cognitive activities.

Cognitive difficulties in the regions aroused poor outcome results and high risk for relapse. Cognitive retraining will improve the brain operation ad sustain the addiction treatment. Cognitive exercises will help the metal “muscles,” improving the operation. Cognitive retrains are a new area, and working memory training on cognitive capacity ae recovery is undergoing. Meditation, yoga, counseling, and comprehensive therapies at the Holistic Sanctuary help patients repair the brain, taking it to the pre-addiction status.