The Brain and Substance/Mental Illness - Made Simple

The Human Brain

Written by and for people with Lived Experience - Port Alberni Community Action Team - Families Helping Families

Today’s Learning Moment – 01 04 21 Issue: The Human Brain and Substance/Mental Illness - Made Simple

Wow! Is it even possible to consider the idea that understanding the human brain and substance or mental illness could be “simple”?

As I sit here writing this article, I can’t help at the wonderment of our brains. How do my thoughts occur in my brain? How do those ideas end up at the tip of my fingers and create words? Then, through technology, they end up in front of your eyes and your brain interprets those words, creating thoughts and impressions for you?

Each of us has somewhere around 80 - 100 billion brain cells. Every one of those brain cells has approx. 1,000 connections with other brain cells, creating a matrix of 60 trillion connections.

In that last paragraph is the first hint of the cause of substance/mental illness. What if some of those connections were blocked or broken? What if in early development, some connections were never created or they were created wrong?

How does thinking occur? Is it like computers with physical electrical connections making decisions by Boolean Algebra - simply making “on or off” choices or series of ones and zeros? Nope. Our brains are far more complex. Those 1000 connections of each brain cell I mentioned earlier are not actual physical connections. Our brain cells are not wired together with other brain cells. There is the tiniest gap between each and every one of those 1000 connections that a brain cell has – those gaps between brain cell connections create the second hint of the cause of substance/mental illness.

If brain cells are not physically wired together, how do they communicate? The answer is through chemicals. We call those substances (there’s that word! – substances) neurotransmitters. That’s right! Every thought or process in your brain is created by chemicals or substances being sent or received across those 60 trillion connections we call the human brain.

In simple terms, a brain cell receives a chemical input, which causes it to generate an electrical pulse within itself, and that generates the output of other chemicals sent to brain cells nearby.

Knowing that chemicals are the transmitters between brain cells, we can appreciate how adding or removing a powerful unregulated substance to our bodies can dramatically impact how our brain functions. If we flood the brain with a neurotransmitter like dopamine (Meth/Cocaine) or a chemical like Fentanyl or Heroin which binds to endorphin receptors, we alter normal brain function.

Substances or chemicals play a major role in our brains, dictating thought and behaviour. They could be as simple and benign as coffee or chocolate or as catastrophic as Fentanyl, Meth and other unregulated drugs. The point is that our brain completely relies on substances or neurotransmitters to function. Introducing anything in our bodies, especially powerful unregulated drugs changes the availability of neurotransmitters, often to the detriment of brain function.

Our brains adapt. The matrix changes. Connections are broken and new connections are created. The ability to uptake chemicals changes. The ability to release chemicals changes. Substance illness begins when the brain is altered enough that it needs the additional levels of a particular substance to function normally, or emotionally driven needs drive the person to crave the rush or numbness that drug use creates.

The idea of broken connections, lack of or too much of a specific neurotransmitter is also part of mental illness. Often the road to wellness for a person with mental illness will include prescribing drugs that change the chemical neurotransmitters or the ability of the brain to use them. Hopefully, this rebalances the chemistry that controls brain function and returns the person suffering from mental illness closer to normal thoughts and behaviours.

We know that trauma directly impacts brain connections. For example, a perfectly normal person can be sent to war and come back with PTSD. The extreme experiences can significantly impact both the brain matrix and the chemistry of the brain. The same thing happens for people who have experienced childhood trauma, especially in the early years when the brain is developing.

I said we’d make the human brain and substance/mental illness simple. As you are probably beginning to understand, it’s anything but. Every one of us has our own very personal, customized, and unique 60 trillion connections of the matrix we call the human brain.

A few connections that weren’t created in our childhood, or physical brain injury that destroys some of those connections, or receptors that don’t work, or transmitters that don’t communicate – any or all of these combinations can lead to a brain that is susceptible to substance and or mental illness. In some ways, it’s a wonder that any of us can even begin to think we’re “normal” – possibly none of us meets that elusive definition.

I’ll leave the exploration of your position on the bell curve of normal to you. However, you now know how fragile the idea of normal is for all of us. The wrong nurturing environment, significant trauma, inherited conditions, or a few uses of unregulated substances can significantly alter our brains, pushing us into the mental or substance disorders category.

Once there, recovery can be almost impossible. Often people suffer from a substance or mental illness for decades or their entire lives. The good news is that the human brain can readapt, build new connections, and repair itself.

Most of you who read this know that the journey is hard. Family supporting people with substance/mental illness are in it for the long haul. No one cure-all or solution works for everyone. Each journey is unique. Some gain healing in years, some never do.

Lastly, I leave you with a question. What does wellness look like for your family member? The answer lies in our expectations. Will they be the same as they used to be before they were ill?

We’ll explore that in our next Learning Moments – Expectations of Healing from Substance/Mental Illness.

All our past articles can be found here: https://ptalbcat.blogspot.com/
The link to this specific article is: https://ptalbcat.blogspot.com/2021/01/the-brain-made-simple.html  SHARING is best done by copying and pasting this link everywhere you want:

Author: Ron Merk – Ron advocates for people with substance and mental illness disorders.

Families Helping Families is an initiative of the Port Alberni Community Action Team. We send out “Learning Moment” articles regularly to help folks understand substance illness. Knowledge is vital in understanding the illness of our family members. You may copy, distribute or share our articles as long as you retain the attribution. You can be added to our distribution list by dropping us a note to - albernihelp@gmail.com