Addiction is: compulsive behavior despite negative consequences.

上瘾就是：不顾负面影响的强迫行为

And it's really important to start by defining addiction because for a long time we really defined it very poorly.

首先 要先定义“上瘾” 因为很久以来 我们对它的定义都不够准确

We used to think that addiction was “needing a substance to function”.

我们曾经以为上瘾是指“需要某种物质去发挥功能”

And what that resulted in was that cocaine was “not addictive” because cocaine does not produce physical withdrawal that is noticeable.

这就导致了可卡因是“不上瘾的” 因为可卡因不会产生明显可见的身体戒断

You may be cranky and irritable and crave cocaine,

你可能会暴躁易怒 渴望使用可卡因

but you won't be puking and shaking and have the classic symptoms that you would see with alcohol or heroin withdrawal.

但你不会呕吐颤抖 也不会有酒精或海洛因戒断那样的典型症状

So cocaine wasn't addictive.

所以可卡因是不上瘾的

Then crack came, and we realized that defining addiction in that way

然后就出现了裂缝 我们意识到那样定义上瘾

not only harms people by telling them that cocaine is not addictive,

不仅会因为告诉人们可卡因不上瘾而伤害到他们

it also harmed pain patients because people who take opioids daily for pain will develop physical dependence,

还会害了疼痛患者 因为每天服用阿片类药物止痛的人会产生身体依赖

but they are not addicted unless they have compulsive behavior despite negative consequences.

不过除非他们出现不顾负面影响的强迫行为 否则他们也不算上瘾

To me, non-drug addictions are really, really interesting because some people have argued that drugs are addictive

对我来说 非药物成瘾非常非常有趣 因为有些人觉得药物会致人上瘾

because they change the brain and that addiction results from unique pathology related to the particular chemicals of the drugs.

因为它们会改变人体大脑 那种上瘾是由与药物中某些化学物质相关的特殊病理学导致的

It is certainly the case that the chemistry matters, but addiction can occur completely without any external chemicals.

在这种情况下 化学会起到一定作用 但在完全没有任何外部化学物质的时候也会出现上瘾

And the reason that that happens is that addiction is not simply exposure to a substance,

之所以会这样 是因为上瘾不只是单纯地暴露在某种物质中

addiction is a pattern of behavior, and certain patterns of experience are inherently addictive.

上瘾是一种行为模式 这种体验模式会让人内在上瘾

And gambling is a good example of this because what gambling does is it gives you intermittent reinforcement.

赌博就是个很好的例子 因为赌博会让你产生间歇性的强化感

And so every unpredictable amount of times, you win.

在某些不可预知的时刻 你会赢

And this is a puzzle to our pattern-seeking brains, and we keep thinking we're going to find a pattern

这对我们寻求模式的大脑来说是个谜 我们一直想要找到这个模式

and it's going to sort out and we're going to understand it, and we're going to get rich.

想要弄清楚并理解它 然后就能暴富了

Or we find that sort of the constant immersion in these ideas that allow you to escape:

或者我们会发现持续沉浸在这种让你可以逃避的思想中：

“Well I've got to do—this is going to soothe you and allow you to escape from your life,” and stuff like this.

“我一定要做——这能抚慰我 让我从生活中逃离” 之类的想法

I think gambling is also really interesting because we've had an enormous explosion in the availability of gambling,

我觉得赌博也很有趣 因为有大量人群可以接触到赌博

but we have not had an enormous explosion of gambling addictions.

但我们却没有出现大范围的赌博上瘾

And again, this is because the population rate— there's only a certain percent of people who will be vulnerable.

还是因为人口比率——只有某一比例的人群容易受到侵害

Now, you can make more of those people by traumatizing them and taking away their economic ways of living,

现在 你可以通过让人们遭受创伤或断绝他们的经济来源来创造更多这一类人

but you can't create them by providing more substances or more addictive opportunities.

但你无法通过给他们提供更多物质或更多上瘾的机会来创造他们