"Club Dopamine"

Trying out an analogy. Let me know how bad this is.

Here's an analogy. The goal is to explain why flatlines are necessary (and a good thing).

In town (your brain) is a place where pleasurable experiences occur due to dopamine. We'll call it "Club D - The place for all happiness." Your limbic system (the part that controls urges) is management, and your conscious willpower is like the bouncer. Club D Is built for say 250 people (representing the dopamine) who enjoy clubbing. Any given day, 150-300 people show up, when you have good times. Everything's good.

Mr. P shows up one day, and he brings along 5000 of his friends. Management freaks out with excitement! This is incredible! Management hurries up and tears down walls, hires bartenders, DJs, etc. Management doesn't know how long this trend will continue, so it builds space for 7500.

So now, when just your "150-300 regulars" show up, it's so dead and empty that there's no fun at all. And because there's space for 7500, even 5000 is lacking. So management asks Mr. P to help out, and he brings in more extreme fun. Process repeats, and before you know it, you have a facility that houses 250 000 people.

At this point, you're at the limit of what can be found. Mr P's friends simply can't get any more extreme. Also, remember, club D is the place for ALL happiness, not just sexual excitement, so all those things you normally find enjoyable just don't measure up.

So your willpower (the bouncer) decides to take charge. Bouncer pulls a Gandalf and says "You shall not pass!" A couple days go by and Limbic system management starts flipping out. Where is everyone? Only the 150-300 regulars are showing up. So management puts out some ads to get Mr. P back and yells at the bouncer (urges). Bouncer doesn't budge. Now the staff gets ticked off and starts complaining (this is where blue balls and other withdrawal symptoms come in.) If the bouncer gives in, everything goes back to normal.

But the bouncer doesn't give in, because the bouncer knows things were better when Club D was only taking care of regulars. So finally management has to close Club D for a little while to renovate. They have to rebuild the walls they tore down, and they can't do it with Club D open. (This is the flatline). Since there's nowhere to have happiness, the whole town is depressed.

A few weeks later, they reopen. Turns out management still was hoping Mr. P is around, so Club D can still hold 100 000 people. Upon reopening, it again sends out advertising again, bouncer goes Gandalf again, and the cycle repeats. This will continue until either the bouncer gives in or until the 150-300 regulars are enough to make Club D a happy place again.

 

Thank you all for the kind words. I will add this to my database of resources.

 

Without over complicating it, let me think about how I can integrate this. Thank you for the input.

 

During recovery, the depression comes from your brain conducting the "renovations."

As for lonliness, I can't say I've gathered a lot of information on that yet to be comfortable making an analogy.

 

I had not heard of delta fosb. Thank you.

Once I find a need and I think I have a handle on it, sure.

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The purpose for this one was to try to reduce some of the anxiety people seem to have over the flatline. The flatline seems to be a barrier scaring people, and it really doesn't need to be.