What if everything we thought we knew about addiction…
was completely wrong?
In a famous experiment, rats were given:
1️⃣ A bottle of plain water
2️⃣ A bottle of water laced with drugs (heroin or cocaine)
Alone in a cage, they almost always chose the drugs — and overdosed.
But then came Rat Park…
A new environment with:
✅ Friends
✅ Toys
✅ Tunnels
✅ Cheese
✅ Connection
Result?
The rats stopped drinking the drug water.
Overdose rate dropped from nearly 100% to 0%.
Maybe addiction isn’t about the drug…
It’s about your cage.
Your environment.
Your ability to connect.
The opposite of addiction isn’t sobriety —
It’s connection.
Credit: Ted Talk.
#AddictionTruth #RatPark #MentalHealthMatters #ConnectionHeals #TraumaRecovery #Shorts
He is right…
In Netherlands I don't smoke weed.
Visit Family and don't have this addiction here.
I don't need it without any problems.
If I came back to germany, to that drughole where I live, I always started again.
I have to leave that son of b** of a house.
The last day for leaving, I saw someone give his injection in the stairsways.
But Everytime I'm getting stronger and pull away those Fellas who aren't good for me.
I will C
I will break that chains
Wow this is so deep!
I hate how these people act like this is breaking damn news. Experiment was done in the 40s or some crap. It's in almost every psy1101 text book.
So, basically you are a drug addict because you are alone? I developed a binge eating disorder since being all alone and lied to for 2.5 years. I have Always blamed my circumstance for my self loathing.
You search for connection no ones saying go with idiots
As a person with 31 years clean, this is absolute truth.
Brilliant banging. Thank you❤
OK, explain Withdrawal
well u can say good friends delete the addiction but its not true
All addicts have one thing in common, they are all physically or mentally weak psychologically
their families are the reason for most of them to be addicted to drugs
family comes first, education and financial freedom are essential in this era
living conditions are getting harsher with developing technology, and of course the lives of children and babies are in danger
So all you need in human edition is to be rich to have the other things that make you avoid doing drugs.
Wow he is 100 % correct he couldn't have said it any better than he did and I personally can relate to what he means. I'm surprised as I never thought about addiction in this manner before.
This theory is sound but does not cover all addictions.
Some do not know how to connect, they dont have the social skills to understand how to cultivate relationships. They often desire to but fell miserably to connect. This is where social awareness needs to be taught directly
Thankfully for me despite veing abandoned as a teen, after years of abuse, I fell into church. The joy others in church naturally embodied I wanted. It led me me to Christ and in all my times of isolation, Ive cried out to God and soon that loneliness dissipated. As a Christian, I sought to swrve and volunteer and take the love of God outwardly.
I am still terribly awkward and yearn for a bosom-buddy as Anne would say but alas social connection escapes me. But my relationship with God as sustained me and allowed me to avoid chemical escape.
You can be a rat in a beautiful cage but , without connection or understanding , it's still a cage…..Blurring that lack of connection with some false connection becomes your reality. Breaking free and opening up is just too difficult sometimes.
Excellent observations.
Amazing insight
Nobody's bonding anymore after Covid…
One are people, with complicated histories, desires, cultural and family baggage, social and economic pressures etc etc the others are rodents. God I hate the new media and all these greasy know it alls who peddle simple solutions like they used to snake oil.
Connecting with people is the problem! 😂
Why are we using rats when there are Millions of people to study instead
There is no supporting evidence that humams with more bonds have less addiction issues. Addiction is a simplifier for a world that has become too complex. The average person doesnt understand how 99.9% of the things they use daily work. We live in a world of abstraction where purpose is equally lost.