This document summarizes 10 key threads or ideas from Marc Lewis's neuroscience masterworks. The threads discuss topics like addiction being a vulnerability of the nervous system, the role of feelings and meaning in our lives, how drugs activate existing chemical messengers in the brain, the brain regions involved in reward and desire, how experiences can rapidly and permanently change the brain, and how repeated neural connections are strengthened over time. Image credits are provided. The document encourages subscribing or receiving the PowerPoint slides for free from the author.

1. The Enchanted Loom
Teasing sturdy threads from
neuroscience masterworks

2. Teasing 10
threads from
Marc Lewis’s…

3. Thread 1:
Addiction
is a basic
vulnerability
of the nervous
system itself.
(pg. 3)

4. Thread 2:
Feelings are a
fundamental
component of
the meaning we
make in our
lives.
(pg. 36)

5. Thread 3:
Meaning doesn’t appear out of nowhere.
We have to grow it. We have to learn who
we are, what
we want,
what we
need …
our goals,
our fears,
our appetites
and desires.
(pg. 35)

6. Thread 4:
Most of the drugs that get us high activate
chemical messengers already in our brain.
(pg. 51)

7. Thread 5:
The reward centers of the brain are in the
lower striatum.
The glowing
anticipation of
pleasure and
success are
what drive the
frontal cortex
to act on
our behalf.
(pg. 63)

8. Thread 6:
The orbitostriatal circuits provide the thrust
that takes us
from wanting
to getting.
The electro-
chemical
currency
they use is
dopamine,
the fuel of
desire. (pg. 64)

9. Thread 7:
Opioids provide relief from pain or stress,
produce well-being that can energize any
goal, and
support
human
attachment.
(pg. 133)

10. Thread 8:
Powerful emotional experiences change
the brain rapidly and permanently. Fear
and
anxiety
accelerate
learning
about
things
to avoid.
(pg. 156)

11. Thread 9:
When the brain has to keep working to
control an impulse, it gets tired. Very
much like
a muscle,
it gets ex-
hausted by
the simple
act of saying
“No” to
temptation.
(pg. 246)

12. Thread 10:
Synapses used
are synapses
strengthened;
they are the ruts
in the garden
where rainwater
flows, forming
deeper and
deeper furrows.
(pg. 227)

13. Image Credits:
Title Page: http://www.alltreatment.com/your-brain-on-drugs
Slide 3 - https://www.pinterest.com/rossettistone29/consintration-gil-bruvel/
Slide 12 - http://bit.ly/1doiSnI
Slide 2 - http://www.thefix.com/content/interview-Marc-Lewis-addicted-brain8090?page=all
Slide 6 - http://www.news.ucsb.edu/2014/014328/your-brain-drugs
Slide 5 - http://www.deviantart.com/art/Undisclosed-Desires-163452426
Slide 11 - http://pixgood.com/snake-apple-png.html
Slide 10 - http://www.deviantart.com/art/GRAVEYARD-341177969
Slide 14 - http://www.alltreatment.com/your-brain-on-drugs
Slide 9 - http://bit.ly/1F1rBBZ
Slide 8 - http://www.deviantart.com/art/Dopamine-at-your-service-148975758
Slide 7 - http://bit.ly/1R96Sol
Slide 4 - http://www.deviantart.com/art/Rorschach-186712905

14. Mark Brady, PhD
TheEnchantedLoom@gmail.com
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