Author: John Carter

Cognition and addiction PMC

“I need it to relax after a stressful day,” or “It helps me be more social,” are common refrains. These justifications serve to ease the cognitive dissonance, allowing the addicted individual to continue their behavior without confronting the stark reality of their situation. When cognitive dissonance and addiction collide, it’s like adding fuel to an already raging fire. The addict’s mind becomes a battleground where logic and desire wage a never-ending war. They might know, on an intellectual level, that their substance use is destroying their relationships, career, and health. Yet, they continue to use, trapped in a cycle of self-destructive behavior that seems impossible to break.

To maintain a positive self-image, individuals may align their beliefs with their actions, even in the presence of evidence pointing to harm. Furthermore, they may devise justifications for their addictive behaviors, deceiving themselves and avoiding the harsh reality of their addiction. It is crucial for specialists to comprehend the role of cognitive dissonance in addiction perception in order to effectively treat their clients. A better understanding of how substances of abuse change cognitive processes is needed to develop new therapeutic agents to treat addiction and ameliorate cognitive deficits. This is a complex issue, however, as different drugs of abuse appear to alter different cognitive processes and cell signaling pathways. Even among users of the same drug, cognitive impacts will differ depending on variations in environmental factors and genetics.

Bridging the Gap: From Dissonance to Recovery

Moreover, individuals who suffer from mental disorders abuse drugs at higher rates than the general population. In a 1986 study, smoking rates approximated 30 percent in population-based controls, 47 percent in patients with anxiety disorder or major depressive disorder, 78 percent in patients with mania, and 88 percent in patients with schizophrenia (Hughes et al., 1986). To drive innovation and enhance the user experience, platform development engineers should leverage cutting-edge technologies, such as metaverse, cloud computing, and blockchain in the development of the pan-entertainment mobile live broadcast platform. This can optimize the live channel recommendation algorithm and personalize the platform to individual users. Furthermore, AI can be utilized to strengthen network security and privacy protection, ensuring the secure storage and protection of user data.

What Strategies Can Help Manage Cognitive Dissonance in Recovery?

Cognitive dissonance suggests that addicts may modify their reasoning processes to support the satisfaction of impulses. For an addict, while craving, the world is experienced in a very different way compared to the way when the craving is satisfied. Craving distorts addicts’ ability to process information in a manner that promotes drug use. For example, while craving, the decision to smoke just one cigarette is viewed in a more favorable light. The smoker may focus on more accommodating belief (e.g., “smoking cannot be very dangerous”). By reducing the risk of smoking, one will have less difficulty in smoking and not feel bad about it.

COGNITIVE EFFECTS OF ACUTE DRUG ADMINISTRATION

For instance, an individual’s cognitive response to acute amphetamine depends in part on which of the alternative forms of the catechol-O-methyltransferase (COMT) gene he or she has inherited. Cocaine and nicotine can directly induce one form of synaptic plasticity, the strengthening of neural connections via a process known as long-term potentiation (LTP; see Learning in the Mind and Brain on page 8 and Table 1) (Argilli et al., 2008; Kenney and Gould, 2008). Morphine inhibits LTP of neurons that exhibit inhibitory control of neural activity via the neurotransmitter gamma-aminobutyric acid (GABA) (Nugent and Kauer, 2008). Inhibition of GABA activity could lead to an overall increase in neural activity throughout the brain, which might lead to the formation of stronger associations than would normally occur, including maladaptive drug-context associations. Rationalization, meanwhile, is the brain’s way of making excuses for continued substance use.

1. Taking steps to address cognitive dissonance is crucial in the recovery process and in managing addiction.
2. Many experiments have established that, as learning takes place, selected neurons increase their levels of activity and form new connections, or strengthen established connections, with networks of other neurons.
3. This finding suggests that information overload may be a significant concern for platform operators, as it can result in negative user experiences and ultimately impact user retention.
4. A recent study conducted by addiction specialists at a treatment facility in 2020 revealed that 75% of participants experienced cognitive dissonance during their recovery.
5. This mental tug-of-war is the essence of cognitive dissonance in addiction—a phenomenon that’s as fascinating as it is heartbreaking.

As shown in the Table 4, the results indicate that the HTMT values between each pair of variables in this study are below 0.85, indicating good discriminant validity for each variable. The discriminant validity analysis is to verify whether there is a statistical difference between two different constructs. The items in different constructs should not be highly correlated, and if they are (0.85 or higher), it means that these items are measuring the same thing, which often happens when the definitions of the constructs overlap excessively. In this study, a rigorous AVE method was used to evaluate the discriminant validity, and as per Fornell and Larcker 89, the square root of each factor’s AVE must be greater than the correlation coefficients of each pair of variables, indicating that the factors have discriminant validity. The diagonal is the square root of each factor’s AVE, greater than the standardized correlation coefficients outside the diagonal.

Associated Data

It occurs when individuals hold opposing beliefs and experience psychological stress as a result. By implementing these strategies, individuals in recovery can effectively manage cognitive dissonance and move towards a more harmonious and fulfilling life in sobriety. Individuals may try to convince themselves and others that they have control over their substance use or exclude themselves from the consequences of their behavior. These defense mechanisms protect their deep-rooted beliefs about themselves and substances. Emotionally, individuals with addiction experience guilt, shame, and sadness due to their inability to control their behavior and the consequences it has on their lives. People often experience cognitive dissonance when their actions do not align with their beliefs or morals.

Cognitive deficits and treatment outcomes

These factors could include the quality of content, the reliability of the platform, and the level of user engagement. Future research could investigate these factors to gain a more comprehensive understanding of discontinuous usage intentions. Second, the study used a cross-sectional survey design with a single source of data, which limits the ability to establish causality and the changes in discontinuous usage intentions over time. A longitudinal research design with multiple data sources could provide more insights into these issues.

A smoker, for example, who knows that smoking causes cancer, experiences cognitive dissonance if she continues to smoke. But that is difficult, so most smokers convince themselves that the links between smoking and lung cancer are not quite as strong as doctors claim (modify belief, or avoid the information). In the context of dieting, a person who intends to lose weight has dissonance because of his conflicting strong desires for fattening foods and to lose weight. After an overindulging evening in a special event, he may experience an intense feeling of discomfort (regret and guilt) for his behavior. He may reduce the discomfort by either downplaying the importance of weight loss, or engage in a rigorous exercise the day after. In both examples, the reactions show that they are justifying their irrational behavior.