Prof. Tarhan: "A pandemic of addiction awaits the world!"

President of Üsküdar University Psychiatrist Prof. Nevzat Tarhan was the guest of the live broadcast of the Söz Medyanı program broadcast on AKİT TV. Tarhan made evaluations on the subject of "Substance Use and Addiction". Emphasizing that the most important factor in the diagnosis of addiction is the loss of control, Tarhan stated that "It is not just drug addiction, there's behavioral addictions as well. This is how gambling addiction and digital addiction are formed. Even though these people do not take any substances, they have reward failure syndrome in the brain." Tarhan also pointed out that a pandemic of addiction awaits the world.

Prof. Nevzat Tarhan made important evaluations on the live broadcast on the subject of "Substance Use and Addiction".

"Evil is like a virus and spreads rapidly"

Stating that evil spreads like a virus, Psychiatrist Prof. Nevzat Tarhan stated that social and individual immunity should be strong to prevent this. Tarhan stated that "As long as the issues related to addiction are not discussed, it will increase more. Evil is like a virus and spreads quickly. What will prevent them is the strong social immune system in the society and the individual immune system in the individual. Just as vaccination is done in order not to get sick when there is an infectious disease, it is important to vaccinate the person about addiction before everything goes well here. In medicine, this is called primary prevention. Vaccination is the primary protection. Just as there is a vaccine in our physical immune system, there is also a vaccine in our psychological immune system. This vaccine needs to be well understood. When we consider it from the point of view of the individual, society consists of individuals. A situation that is approved by the majority of individuals is socially accepted in that society. It easily becomes widespread and ordinary in society."

“Capitalist morality teaches pleasure as the ego ideal."

Stating that the self-interest of people is an effective reason for the spread of evil, Tarhan expressed that "Right now, addiction has become commonplace. It has entered our everyday lives. This is savage capitalism, the globalization of capitalist morality. Capitalist morality says, ‘The one with power get what they want.’ If you have the opportunity, it is said to be self-centered and use it selfishly. Capitalist morality teaches pleasure as the ego ideal. There are four items of this capitalist morality, the first item is hedonism, the pursuit of pleasure. This is called hedonistic in medical terminology. The person says, 'What I like is good, what I do not like is bad.' Secondly, self-centeredness appears. Here, too, one says, 'What is for my interest is good, and what is not for my interest is not good.' The concept of good and evil is changing. Loneliness arises, and people feel lonely. People with these two characteristics cannot socialize. Some of the reasons for the spread of evil are that people become self-interested, selfish, and seek pleasure. In medicine, this is called dopamine happiness. That is, being happy with pleasure... Dopamine is the chemical that increases pleasure in the brain. When selfish people and extractive people use substances, dopamine is loaded into the brain, and they feel great pleasure. However, after a while, dopamine is not secreted as much as before. When the brain asks for dopamine again, the effect of dopamine increases. The threshold level is rising. It wants more dopamine. These substances, cocaine, heroin, and other subtances activate a similar mechanism in the brain, which is the reward mechanism."

Abstract hedonism is hedonism of meaning...

Stating that abstract hedonism is hedonism of meaning, Prof. Tarhan said that "The capitalist system has reduced hedonism to concrete hedonism. Then, there is the abstract hedonism within hedonism. Aristotle said this 2,300 years ago. Abstract hedonism is hedonism of meaning. To be part of a higher meaning, to pursue a meaning... To be living and walking around with dignity by producing good and beautiful things for people and society, and by saying 'I have done good, right and beautiful things' when it comes to the end of life... It produces serotonin in the brain. These are new information that neuroscience has discovered. There is serotonin bliss right now. Since this serotonin happiness is also meaning happiness, it happens in people who think medium and long term. In people who only think about today, the brain releases dopamine, but Aristotle called it ‘Hedomanic Happiness’ because there is happiness of meaning in people who think in the medium and long term. Those people think in a way such as ‘There was a situation that demoralized me, or I failed at this exam, I made a mistake here, but I have a goal. On the way towards that goal, there can be always mistakes. I will be pleased again in the future.' The ability to delay gratification and endurance skills develop."

“It is not just drug addiction, but it is behavioral addictions as well."

Emphasizing that the most important factor in the diagnosis of addiction is the loss of control, Tarhan stated that "It is not just drug addiction, but there are behavioral addictions as well. This is how gambling addiction and digital addiction are formed. Although these people do not take any substance, they have reward failure syndrome in the brain. The pathology equivalent of addiction is reward failure syndrome. The brain cannot get enough of the reward. The most important factor in the diagnosis of addiction is not the withdrawal crisis or tolerance development, and the biggest factor is the loss of control. If a person uses more substances than they planned, drinks alcohol, disrupts daily living activities, cannot do their routines, cannot manage it, they are in the risk group. This person is considered a dependent. In the past, we used to wait for a crisis to be diagnosed with addiction. There would be physical deprivation. Now we are not waiting, we are looking at whether there is a loss of control.”

"60-70 percent of addicts are in the background of violent crimes"

Pointing out that the number of addicted patients in prisons has increased, Prof. Nevzat Tarhan stated that "There are 800,000 probation cases in Türkiye. 800,000 probation cases means 800,000 people have consumed alcohol and had legal problems. A file has been opened for these people by the state and they are being followed. There are probation offices all over the Anatolian and European sides. Prisons are currently full of addicted patients... A three-hundred-bed addiction psychiatric hospital is being built for these patients. A prison hospital is being built. There is a serious figure here. It is also important to build this three-hundred-bed hospital... In violent crimes, there are 60-70 percent addicts in the background of violence against women. They take the substance, and at that moment, their judgment is disrupted by what they have thrown into it, what they have accumulated. In that case, everything is expected. They are getting to that point. Statistics in prisons confirm this. This is a global problem, but Türkiye has been affected a lot by this problem. The reason for this is that our society loves capitalist morality very much. Very interestingly our society bought it. It buys easily compared to all countries in the world. This situation causes an increase. A pandemic of addiction awaits the world."

 

Üsküdar News Agency (ÜNA)