Why Your Bad Habits (and Addictions) May Be Getting Worse - and How Mindfulness Can Help | Dr. Jud Brewer
Dr. Judson Brewer, an addiction psychiatrist and Director of Research and Innovation at Brown University's Mindfulness Center, discusses how stress exacerbates addiction across a spectrum of habits. He explains how mindfulness and meditation can help individuals understand and break habit loops for various addictions, from food to anxiety.
Deep Dive Analysis
12 Topic Outline
Addiction as a Spectrum and Universal Human Nature
Impact of Pandemic Stress on Addiction and Habits
Mental Health Crisis and Lack of Support During Pandemic
Mindfulness as a Resilience Factor for Mental Health
Practical Mindfulness for Managing Stress and Urges
Understanding Anxiety as a Habit Loop
How Meditation and Mindfulness Interrupt Habit Loops
Research Evidence for Mindfulness in Addiction Treatment
Formal vs. Informal Mindfulness Practice
Learning from 'Failures' and Cultivating Curiosity
News Addiction as a Modern Habit Loop Example
Addressing Past Trauma vs. Present Moment Awareness
5 Key Concepts
Addiction Spectrum
Addiction is described as the far end of a spectrum of habit formation, a fundamental survival mechanism shared by everyone. It's characterized by continued use of a behavior despite adverse consequences.
Habit Loop
A core mechanism for forming habits, consisting of three elements: a trigger, a behavior, and a reward. The brain uses this to learn and survive, but it can also perpetuate unhelpful behaviors like addiction or anxiety.
Anxiety as a Habit
Anxiety can be perpetuated as a habit where a negative emotion (e.g., fear) triggers a mental behavior (worry), which then provides a temporary, often illusory, reward like feeling in control or distracted from the negative emotion.
Bigger, Better Offer (BBO)
Mindfulness itself can become a more rewarding experience than acting on an urge or addiction. By bringing curiosity and awareness to cravings and the actual, often negative, results of habitual behaviors, the brain learns that the old habit is not truly rewarding, making mindfulness the more appealing option.
Forgiveness is Giving Up Hope of a Better Past
This concept suggests that getting stuck on 'why' past traumas or events occurred can hinder progress. Instead, releasing the desire to change the past allows individuals to focus on what is happening in the present moment, which is where change and healing can occur.
8 Questions Answered
Dr. Brewer views addiction as the far end of a spectrum of habit formation, where continued use occurs despite adverse consequences. He suggests that everyone operates on this spectrum, as habit formation is a fundamental survival mechanism.
The pandemic introduces a massive universal stressor, which is a top predictor of relapse or the formation of new bad habits. This increased societal anxiety diminishes people's buffer, making them more likely to move towards more extreme ends of the addiction spectrum.
Mindfulness helps individuals understand how their minds work, calm their physiology, and map out habit loops. It enables them to anchor their awareness in the present moment, observe urges and anxiety without acting on them, and build resilience.
Yes, anxiety can be a habit where a negative emotion like fear triggers the mental behavior of worry. This worry is 'rewarded' by a temporary feeling of control or distraction, perpetuating the anxiety habit loop.
Meditation trains individuals to be mindful, allowing them to observe urges and cravings as temporary sensations and thoughts. This process helps decouple the urge from the action, revealing the true, often unrewarding, results of addictive behaviors.
Yes, formal meditation helps keep baseline anxiety levels low, making individuals less susceptible to strong urges. It complements informal, in-the-moment mindfulness, which helps manage urges as they arise.
Relapses or 'failures' can be used as learning opportunities. By reflecting on the negative physical and psychological sensations that follow overindulgence, individuals can become disenchanted with the behavior, motivating them to choose healthier responses next time without self-judgment.
While acknowledging past trauma, Dr. Brewer suggests focusing on 'what is happening right now' rather than 'why' it happened. The present moment is where individuals can actively work with their habit loops and emotional responses, as the past cannot be changed.
20 Actionable Insights
1. Cultivate Mindfulness for Resilience
Develop solid mindfulness practices proactively to build resilience, which helps you fare well even during stressful times and is a key differentiator for managing anxiety and addiction effectively.
2. Map Out Habit Loops
Explore and map out your mind’s habit loops (trigger, behavior, reward) for any unhelpful pattern, especially those related to anxiety or cravings, to illuminate how your mind operates and enable you to stop perpetuating these loops.
3. Embrace Curiosity as Superpower
When an urge or craving arises, cultivate curiosity about what it feels like in your body and mind, as this act of curious awareness itself can be more rewarding than acting on the urge, helping you avoid being “owned” by every impulse.
4. Observe Urges Through Meditation
When an urge (e.g., to eat, smoke, worry) arises, sit and formally meditate on it, noticing it as sensations and thoughts that come and go, to learn that these urges are transient and you don’t have to act on them.
5. Practice Mindful Eating/Action
In the moment of an urge, pay close attention as you perform the action (e.g., eating an Oreo), noticing the taste, feel, and the actual reward or result. This direct awareness helps you see if the behavior is truly rewarding, quickly reducing its appeal.
6. Focus on Behavior’s True Reward
Pay close attention to the actual results and reward value of a behavior (e.g., eating one cookie versus six), allowing your body to inform you when it’s “enough” or “too much.” This helps reduce the behavior’s appeal over time by seeing the cause-and-effect relationship.
7. Reflect on Behavior (Before, During, After)
Practice reflecting on your behavior: ideally before you act, then during the action, and if not possible, definitely after. Reflecting afterward helps you learn from the cause-and-effect relationship without self-judgment, disenchanting you from unhelpful habits.
8. Tap into Suffering for Motivation
Recall the suffering caused by past unhelpful behaviors (e.g., overeating, excessive news checking) to naturally motivate yourself to practice mindfulness and make healthier choices, rather than relying on willpower or feeling obligated.
9. Combine Formal & Informal Mindfulness
Engage in consistent formal meditation practice (daily-ish) to lower overall anxiety levels, and then apply informal, in-the-moment mindfulness to address urges as they arise, as these two approaches complement each other effectively.
10. Anchor Awareness in Your Feet
Practice simple mindfulness by bringing your awareness into your feet, noticing sensations like warmth or cold. This can serve as an “anxiety-free zone” and a calming anchor, especially when focusing on breathing might feel less calm-inducing.
11. Focus on “What” Not “Why”
When struggling with a habit or emotional memory, shift your focus from “why is this happening” (past-oriented) to “what is happening right now” (present-oriented), because you can only take action on what is occurring in the present moment.
12. Mindfully Process Emotional Memories
When old emotional memories arise, bring in mindfulness to notice them as thoughts, body sensations, or memories, and gently remind yourself “I’m safe now” to prevent them from gaining additional emotional charge and becoming re-traumatizing.
13. Utilize Specialized Mindfulness Apps
Use apps like “Eat Right Now,” “Craving to Quit,” or “Unwinding Anxiety” to get structured support and guidance for managing specific habits or addictions. These apps are designed to help people notice habit loops and ride out urges.
14. Seek Professional Mental Health Support
If you are struggling with mental health issues or addiction, seek out a good therapist or mental health specialist who can provide support, answer questions, and help you process experiences. Telemedicine can increase accessibility.
15. Utilize Online Support Groups
For addiction recovery or mental health support, leverage online platforms like Zoom for group meetings (e.g., AA, 12-step) to maintain crucial connection and support, especially when in-person meetings are not feasible or accessible.
16. Form Small, Safe Support Groups
If possible and safe, consider forming small, in-person support groups (4-5 people) with proper social distancing precautions, as an alternative to larger meetings, to foster connection and mutual support.
17. Acknowledge Brain’s Information Drive
Recognize that your brain naturally seeks information (like news) for survival and planning, and give yourself grace for this tendency, rather than trying to force yourself to stop. Understanding this is a natural mechanism.
18. Recognize News Feed Vulnerability
Understand that news feeds are designed like slot machines, exploiting your brain’s natural drive for information with intermittent rewards. This makes you highly vulnerable to checking compulsively, especially during uncertain times like a pandemic.
19. Apply Self-Compassion and Learn
When you overindulge or “go too far” with a habit, approach it with kindness and self-compassion, asking “What can I learn from this?” rather than hiding it or beating yourself up, to facilitate learning and change.
20. Cultivate Empathy for Mental Health
Recognize that widespread anxiety during stressful times can foster greater empathy for those who struggle with mental health issues, potentially reducing stigma and increasing understanding at a population level.
5 Key Quotes
My favorite definition of addiction is continued use despite adverse consequences.
Dr. Judson Brewer
Stress is the number one, if not the top, one of the top three predictors of relapse.
Dr. Judson Brewer
Our brains don't change behavior based on just, you know, you can't think your way out of a habit. You can't think your way out of an addiction.
Dr. Judson Brewer
The superpower of not being owned by every urge and emotion that flits through your consciousness.
Dan Harris
Forgiveness is giving up hope of a better past.
Dr. Judson Brewer
2 Protocols
In-the-Moment Urge Management Protocol
Dr. Judson Brewer- Notice the urge as it arises (e.g., to eat Oreos, smoke, check phone).
- Bring curious awareness to the sensations, thoughts, and emotions associated with the urge.
- Observe the urge as it comes and goes, recognizing it doesn't have to be acted upon.
- If acting on the urge, pay attention to the experience (taste, feeling) and the result (how rewarding it truly is, physical/emotional aftermath).
- Learn from the experience, especially if the result was unrewarding, to inform future choices.
Learning from Past Behavior Protocol (Buddhist Psychology)
Dr. Judson Brewer (attributing to the Buddha's advice to his son Rahula)- Reflect on your behavior before you do it.
- If unable to reflect before, reflect during the behavior.
- If unable to reflect during, reflect after the behavior to learn from it.