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Chronic Attachment Disorder (CAD) is any unhealthy, compulsive behavior, pattern of thinking, acting out, or otherwise repetitive process that is formed as a result of a neurological bonding in the brain, that is driven and perpetuated by the reward center. Many people would call this addiction. That term has taken on inappropriate, harmful, and non-solution driven stigmas that have mostly been derived in the argument of whether “choice” is the major factor. The challenge is that most of the stigmas and shame surround the treatment of CAD from a substance like a drink or drug.
The reality is that many sicknesses, disorders, or diseases all begin with choice. Of course, there are always exceptions. The list includes cancer, diabetes, cardiovascular disease, stroke, arthritis, fibromyalgia, hypertension or blood pressure, obesity, and many more. These are politely called “Lifestyle diseases.” This is actually a very good resource for better understanding. https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lifestyle_disease
Most of these occur from something we will talk about later, known as epigenetics. The short of it is that epigenetics is how your DNA, genetics, respond to the input in your body. It’s like a light switch that gets turned on for either good outcome or bad outcome.
For a better understanding, check out Dr. Pamela Peeke https://youtu.be/aqhzFd4NUPI “Hooked, Hacked, Hijacked: Reclaim Your Brain from Addictive Living.”
Many persons believe addiction is or was simply a choice. Or that addiction was caused by inappropriate or unhealthy coping mechanisms. Those may both be true founding points. However, there is much more to that equation than most people truly know or understand. While learning to develop healthy coping skills and mechanisms for life are of utmost importance, understanding what is going behind the scenes physiologically that drives people into CAD is paramount.
In addition, most of the “Addiction” world that society looks at is focused on abstinence from the “Drink or Drug” and not the working definition of Chronic Attachment Disorder. CAD represents many different avenues: alcohol, drugs, porn, sex, gambling, religion, relationships, work, anger, gaming, sports, social media, etc.
Reread the definition of CAD.
Chronic Attachment Disorder (CAD) is any unhealthy, compulsive behavior, pattern of thinking, acting out, or otherwise repetitive process that is formed as a result of a neurological bonding in the brain, that is driven and perpetuated by the reward center.
The words unhealthy and compulsive are the keys. It’s bad for your life and it is locked in to the “autopilot” portion of our brain called the reptilian mind, monkey brain, or lizard brain as some call it. It gets formed into the same place (part of the brain and system) that controls your reflexes and involuntary responses like breathing! How often do you choose to breathe? You don’t! That’s the point! CAD is the point of no longer having conscious control of how your body reacts or craves something.
What are the contributing factors behind the scenes of the physiological dynamics of CAD? Keep in mind, these things all encourage and support developing good or bad habits. This explains how bad habits come to play and become “autopilot.”
CAD can begin in many ways:
Chemical imbalance in the brain leads people to respond and act in certain ways. Genetically, our bodies are all individually working off a blueprint called homeostasis. This is where an individual’s brain seeks balance (homeostasis) according to their DNA. Some people are born with via chemical replacement, i.e. drugs, alcohol, caffeine, nicotine, food (primarily sugar), etc. Usually, when the body craves a certain food, it is telling us we “need” something.
For example, craving sour foods like lemon or fruits, or tartness can mean you are needing magnesium.
o Chemical imbalance can be genetic or epigenetic. Meaning born with an imbalance or the imbalance occurs as a result of long-term exposure to substances or environment. These long-term exposures can come from diet, replacement parts in the body like joints, and include substance use disorder. They can also come from an external environment, ie radiation or mold, and many other things.
o Cravings, even small ones, can begin the process of neuroadaptation.
Neuroadaptation in the brain via something known as neuroplasticity. The brain forms new neuropathways in the brain that are primarily supported and reinforced in the reward center. This happens because of neuroplasticity, the brain can adapt, change, and develop.
“Fight or Flight” response in the Limbic System. These neuropathways are triggered by the part of the brain is responsible to protect you at all cost. You don’t have immediate control over it, it is automatic. It tells your body to jump out of the way of a moving car before you can even think.
Attachment and Bonding in the brain. This is a chemical process that happens over time. It is the culmination of the neuroadaptation process. The brain can be changed and be manipulated. All areas of our lives are affected by these attachments and bonds. Our social, biological, mental, spiritual, and emotional well-being all rises or falls on this bonding process. Attachment and bonding happen as a result of the reward center in the brain being “lit” up. The feel goods of being safe, euphoric, chill, etc.
Attachments and bonding are a physiological process. A process that can have negative or positive outcomes and results. This is NOT a purposeful or intentional moral or spiritual failing. Most people attach and bond to things unconsciously, without knowing or believing there will be a negative consequence. Once you understand this process, then you can make wise decisions. A huge word of caution. Our brains are of extreme power and it is very difficult to overcome the reward center in the brain when it is triggered. Therefore, understanding how we live in our social, biological, mental, spiritual, and emotional health all support whether we are bonded to healthy or unhealthy behavior, experiences, patterns/habits, food and chemicals, people, ways of thinking, places, and even processes.
Attachment Theory
From early childhood, we are all in the process of attachment and bonding. “Attachment theory is a concept in developmental psychology that concerns the importance of "attachment" in regard to personal development. Specifically, it makes the claim that the ability for an individual to form an emotional and physical "attachment" to another person gives a sense of stability and security necessary to take risks, branch out, and grow and develop as a personality.” - https://www.psychologistworld.com/developmental/attachment-theory
Facts about Attachment:
· Attachment begins at birth and is supported and developed during childhood primarily by our caregivers. Its effects and how we are affected by how we perceive, seek, and receive love (well-being) in our lives. In fact, this process begins in utero, even before birth. A mother’s body effects how a child will begin attachment.
· Attachment is driven and cemented in our brains and bodies CHEMICALLY!!!
· The cementing process happens in many parts of the brain but is cemented primarily by the reward center.
· The reward center reinforces pleasure, feelings of being safe, in love, or even our favorite foods. As it relates to CAD, it signals the brain when you have “found safety” and tells your brain “do this again!”
· Over time, this becomes a well-traveled neuropathway through something called neuroplasticity. In other words, it becomes a learned response that is triggered by the danger, stress, fear, extreme sadness, and many other things, including diet. It literally becomes a non-conscious habit in the brain.
· Attachment is how our brains develop and choose survival. The challenge is, that our brains choose things because of being “lit up” in areas that are based on “survival” instincts. And attachments are not necessarily based on reality. In the case of drink or drug, those substances helped deter or manage feelings of fear, inadequacy, or other negatively affecting emotions.
Bonding or Attachment Gone Wrong
In reading and getting an overview of how our bodies work, we can see that a large majority of what drives Chronic Attachment Disorder is biology or physiology. Yes, bad decisions can lead to being physically addicted to a process, chemical, actions, etc. But, so can good decisions!
Rewiring the brain is the core piece of helping people get out of bad behaviors and into healthy living. Even the most influential guy of the New Testament church, the Apostle Paul, said in Romans 7, “I am sold into slavery with sin as my master. I don’t understand myself at all, for I really want to do what is right, but I don’t do it. Instead, I do the very thing I hate! I know perfectly well that what I am doing is wrong, and my bad conscience shows that I agree… But, I can’t help myself, because it is the sin inside me that makes me do these evil things.” “No matter which way I turn, I can’t make myself do right.”
Let me break this down in super simple terms. After a series of making bad decisions, those decisions get locked into autopilot. The brain and body have now locked those in, and choice becomes elusive and the same things Paul mentions in Romans become what society has called Addiction.
The change we are promoting and outlining here at Regenesis starts with a new way of thinking that has been structured and defined in treating Chronic Attachment Disorder. We are helping people take back their lives from being in autopilot mode. By using a method we call Neuro-active Engineered Programming N.E.P. we are empowering people to create and live new lives.
By getting educated, people can find understanding of what has happened and is happening to them or their loved ones. As well as getting educated on what we know now about “addiction” or even recovery efforts. What seems to work for some doesn’t work for all. There is no cookie cutter cure. We are all different and need different approaches.
Getting equipped to face this challenge is one facet of treating a chronic attachment. Learning how to “Just say No” is not some slogan easily attained. If it were that easy, the folks that have shriveled up from using Meth would have done it the first time they knew it had control of them!
Regenesis means the state of being renewed. The place or posture or personal orientation towards being renewed. It’s not a destination, it is a state. Just like ice, liquid, or steam are states of water. We founded Regenesis on the foundational passage in Romans 12:2. "Be transformed by the renewing of you mind. So that might be able to test and approve what God's will is. His good, perfect, and pleasing will." Be transformed by being renewed. Regenesis.
We exist to help people find hope and become empowered to live out their best lives possible. Lives free from Chronic Attachment Disorder. To live lives that are worthy of the fact they we were created for a reason and we have a purpose in this life.
By dealing with CAD as a process that envelopes every area of our lives, we can give people the opportunity to grab the reigns of their lives back! The living hell many of us, and our loved ones, have experienced by dealing with active and unhealthy patterns of using or acting out can be devastating! But there is HOPE!!!
We did NOT say this will be easy. It is the biggest challenge our society faces to date.
Regenesis focuses on 4 Main areas of coaching and development.
Hope – Helping people find and discover faith and belief, hope that they can get up from the bondage of Chronic Attachment Disorder and pursue living their best lives out loud. Turn a corner and harness the power of Neuro-active Engineered Programming.
Education – Giving someone an aerial view of what “recovery” looks like is huge. Understanding how and why a person is in CAD, what has helped others, and getting the big picture understanding of why it’s not just about “choice” anymore. We cover treatments, therapies, approaches, etc. that have all found traction in helping people with CAD. It’s not just about knowledge. It’s about making that knowledge practical and ready to be applied.
Equipping – The foundation of equipping is that you take education, or best understandings as you know them now, to the level of application. A person must become proficient at using what they learn about CAD and how NEP can help them regain life. The more a person can learn and practice, the more they gain confidence and the more they feel empowered to make life changes for the good things they want in life.
Empowerment – When a person has moved past daily CAD, maybe even has hiccups here and there, they begin to feel confident and stronger to face this challenge. We help people discover and pursue the best things they desire in life. We focus on the here and now, called Journey Focused. And we develop long term goals and strategies that lead towards where they want to be in life. We call that Destination Aware.
When a person has hiccups or falls, we don’t beat them up. We take them right back to the process of finding hope. Getting a better understanding of what happened, ie Education. Help them identify new ways of getting equipped and applying it. And refocusing right back on living an empowered life.
This process is cyclical. Find hope. Get educated. Become equipped. Live empowered. Face challenges. Find hope. Get educated. Become equipped. Live empowered. Fall. Get up in hope. Get educated. Equipped. Empowered.
Journey Focused is everything. And Destination Aware is the fuel we use to help power that journey.
When you use the definition of Chronic Attachment Disorder you realize that many more people are living handcuffed, in some sort of prison, or bondage keeping them from living life abundantly.
Perhaps that is why this passage means so much to us…” When he (Jesus) saw the crowds, he had compassion on them because they were confused and helpless, like sheep without a shepherd.” Matthew 9:37
We all need compassion. We all need clarity. We all hate feeling helpless. Nobody wants to be like a sheep with no one caring for them!
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