Üsküdar University Rector's Advisor, Head of Internal Medicine Sciences Department Prof. Dr. Tayfun Uzbay participated in the “Public Policies in the Fight Against Addiction Symposium” organized in cooperation with Samsun Ondokuz Mayıs University, Samsun Governorship, Samsun Metropolitan Municipality, and Samsun Provincial Health Directorate. Prof. Dr. Tayfun Uzbay delivered a speech on the topic that a good education system, followed by ethical values, science, and law, plays a very important role in the fight against addiction. Uzbay, who evaluated addiction as the reflection of a person's unmanaged and out-of-control weaknesses in their behaviors, pointed out that when we cannot manage our weaknesses, our weaknesses begin to manage our behaviors.
Speaking at the symposium held in the context of “National and International Policies for Combating Addiction,” Prof. Dr. Tayfun Uzbay delivered his presentation titled “From Pleasure to Addiction.” Uzbay stated that addiction is pleasure-oriented and that there are three important points we should take away from Paul Bloom's book, The Science of Pleasure. Uzbay said; “The first of these is that we can encounter new pleasure-inducing things, meaning they are not limited. Here, rather than internet and technology addiction, it is necessary to look at the effects of their misuse on health. As Paul Bloom said, when new things are invented, we will face new types of addiction because each of them will be a new source of pleasure. A second observation is that human pleasures are universal, meaning they are not specific to any culture or society. This explains why addictions caused by pleasure are global, why they are a universal problem. The third important point is that people take pleasure in being stimulated; things that stimulate people give pleasure.”
Prof. Dr. Tayfun Uzbay: “There is a balance in our brain, and its reins are in our hands…”
Speaking about the brain's reward system and its stimulants, Prof. Dr. Tayfun Uzbay said; “Why do we feel pleasure? Because we have a pleasure and reward center in our brain. Having autobiographical memory distinguishes us from other living beings; the main reason for this is that we analyze something before doing it. Animals do not have such a thing; they act more impulsively. The limbic system is also an impulsive system. Despite all your impulses, you can guide what is right and wrong with your frontal cortex. There is a balance in our brain, and its reins are in our hands.”
Prof. Dr. Tayfun Uzbay: “Addiction is actually the reflection of a person's unmanaged and out-of-control weaknesses in their behaviors.”
Uzbay, stating that humans are comfort and pleasure-oriented; “You get used to comfort very easily, and it is always very difficult to leave your accustomed comfort zone. Things that give pleasure are reinforcing. You want to do pleasure-giving things repeatedly, you want to experience pleasure. When you reinforce a pleasure, it becomes your weakness. When we cannot manage our weaknesses, our weaknesses begin to manage our behaviors, which indicates that one will become addicted to that pleasure-giving thing. Addiction is actually the reflection of a person's unmanaged and out-of-control weaknesses in their behaviors. On a biological basis, genetic predisposition facilitates the path to addiction, while environmental factors are decisive by either disrupting the genetic basis or supporting the path to addiction.”