Mesolimbic pathway by User:Slashme; Patrick J. Lynch; User:Fvasconcellos licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0 In my last post, I talked about the hijacking of the brain's reward system and the role it plays in addiction. I need to expand on that, because this is a lot more complicated than it looks. It is fascinating from a Stoic viewpoint: How much… Continue reading What’s this brain reward system you keep talking about?
Tag: neurology
A Disquiet in the Machine
What greater test for Stoicism is there than addiction? How would you know what is truly in your control when there are external forces that can hijack that control? By now, we know that addiction is just as great a disease as hypertension and diabetes. None are immune to its pull and all are at… Continue reading A Disquiet in the Machine
A Bayesian Model for Chronic Pain
I recently read a fascinating article from the UK by Tabor and colleagues (https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pcbi.1005142). It posits that chronic pain occurs because our brain can't accurately assess the threat to the body. As this continues, our perception continues with that out-of-date analysis, resulting in the maintenance of pain. Let's move back a bit and talk about… Continue reading A Bayesian Model for Chronic Pain
Stoic Scientist 