Compulsive Behavior and Pleasure Associations

The closer we are to receiving pleasure, the more we think of it. We remember the pleasure and we want it again. We remember the enjoyment, and forget the negative effects.

When we want pleasure, we replay the best part of the experience. We build anticipation by remembering the pleasure over and over again, like listening to a favorite song without playing the rest of the tape. We rarely play the tape to the end. Who wants to see all the images of depression, sickness, obesity, guilt and all the other fun stuff that goes with indulgence?

When a drug addict thinks about a drug, he remembers the rush. Reliving the experience of pleasure builds anticipation. As he focuses on the rush, the more the anticipation increases the desire for pleasure. He ignores the loss of money and health, the pain of withdrawals, jail and all the negative consequences associated with drugs. Drug addicts and alcoholics have pleasure-centered thinking. If they forced themselves to look at the entire picture, they would not be using drugs.

We do the same with food. We become fixed on the pleasure. Instead, we need to force ourselves to look at the consequences of overindulging: greasy skin, pimples, cavities, rolls of ugly fat, and disease-rotted flesh from a body overloaded with food additives.

Compulsive behavior is based on destructive pleasure associations.