Baseer Maroof, LCSW · Raleigh, NC · Adults 21+

Vices

Tap what calls to you

Most people who struggle with a vice aren’t weak or bad. They found something that worked, and it kept working until it didn’t.

الغزالي Imam al-Ghazali

Appetites clog the heart

A heart with luminous arteriesLight flows through fine golden vessels from the heart to three gifts: nearness to God, insight, and guidance. Each appetite deposits plaque; as the vessels clog, the gifts go dark one by one. Remembrance and restraint clear them and the gifts return. insightبصيرة guidanceهُدى nearnessقُرب

Tap an appetite.

Imam al-Ghazali taught that the appetites of the stomach and of sex harm us not only as wrongs, but because they dull the heart.

Baseer pictures it as clogged arteries: the light still comes, but less of it flows on to nearness to God, insight and guidance.

Remembrance and restraint clear the way, again and again.

Read more

He was not against appetite. In Breaking the Two Desires, Book 23 of his Revival of the Religious Sciences, he calls sexual desire a praiseworthy thing when it stands in a state of equilibrium, obedient to the intellect and the Law in all its movements. The trouble is excess, when desire stops serving and starts steering.

On food, he lists ten benefits of hunger. The first is the purification of the heart … and the sharpening of one’s insight. A heart that is always overfull, he says, grows dull and slow to perceive.

The arteries are Baseer’s picture. Al-Ghazali’s own image, in Marvels of the Heart (Book 21), is a mirror that can reflect what is real. Wrongdoing and unchecked appetite settle on it like smoke or rust, the “rust” of Qur’an 83:14. Remembrance of God and good action polish it bright again.

Read this way, a slip is not a verdict on who you are. It is dust on glass, and glass can be wiped. That is the spirit of this whole planet: understanding over shame.

  1. al-Ghazali, Iḥyāʾ ʿUlūm al-Dīn, Book XXIII, Kitāb Kasr al-Shahwatayn. In Al-Ghazali on Disciplining the Soul & on Breaking the Two Desires (Books XXII–XXIII), trans. T. J. Winter. Cambridge: ITS, 1995; pbk. 2016. its.org.uk
  2. al-Ghazali, Iḥyāʾ ʿUlūm al-Dīn, Book XXI, Kitāb Sharḥ ʿAjāʾib al-Qalb: The Marvels of the Heart, trans. W. J. Skellie, foreword T. J. Winter. Louisville: Fons Vitae, 2010. fonsvitae.com
The full journey of the heart علم النفس → More in علم النفس الإسلامي
Why this is hereBaseer believes most vices start as a way to cope, and that people change faster with understanding than with shame.

In short

Reward loopCues start to pull on their own.
ToleranceMore for the same effect.
WithdrawalFeeling worse without it.
Using to copeFun turns into function.

The loop, in pictures

Tap a step or press play.

Habit → vice, and the three-stage cycle

Switch views with the chips.

Read more: how each one works
The reward loopWanting isn’t the same as liking

Anything that feels good, or makes something bad stop, gets tagged by the brain’s reward system. Dopamine is less about pleasure itself and more about wanting: it makes the cues that come before a reward feel urgent (Berridge & Robinson 2016). With repetition, the cues (a time, a place, a feeling) start the behaviour on autopilot (Wood & Rünger 2016). (Berridge 2016; Wood 2016)

ToleranceNeeding more for the same effect

With alcohol, nicotine and cannabis, the brain adapts to repeated doses so the same amount does less. People often end up using more, or more often, to get the old effect. (Volkow 2016)

WithdrawalFeeling worse without it

When the brain has adjusted to a substance, stopping can bring a rebound: irritable, anxious, low, poor sleep. Using again relieves that, which is a powerful reward on its own. Koob and Volkow call this the “negative affect” stage of addiction. (Koob & Volkow 2016)

Using to copeFrom fun to function

The biggest shift is often from “something I enjoy” to “how I get through.” Stress, loneliness, boredom or pain become the cues. That makes sense: it works, for a while. It also means the real problem underneath doesn’t get solved.

Where am I on the spectrum?

Tap what’s true lately, for any habit.

Casual → compulsive

Nothing is saved or sent.

A reflection tool, not a validated screener or a diagnosis. The statements echo common features of addiction described by NIDA and in the research cited below.

Why this planet skips the shame

Called“abuser”516 clinicians judged the same person more punitively.
Describedperson-firstThe same person got less punitive judgments.
Read more
Labels change how people are treatedWords matter

In a study of 516 mental health clinicians, describing the same person as a “substance abuser” rather than as “having a substance use disorder” led to more punitive judgments, such as more blame. If labels sway trained clinicians, they sway the rest of us too. (Kelly & Westerhoff 2010)

Understanding is a better toolWhat works instead

Shame tends to push people into hiding, and hiding cuts people off from support. Understanding your own loop (what it does for you, what sets it off, what it costs) gives you something to work with. That’s the approach on every page here, and it fits the CBT, ACT and DBT skills Baseer uses in therapy.

Real help, free

Every number here is verified and free.

☎SAMHSA National Helpline · 1-800-662-4357Free, confidential, 24/7, English and Spanish. Treatment referrals and information.⌖FindTreatment.govSearch licensed treatment near you, by location, payment and type of care.♡988 Suicide & Crisis LifelineCall or text 988 if you’re in crisis or thinking about suicide.

A gentle note

Everything on this planet is meant to sit alongside therapy and medical care, not replace it. It’s education, not a diagnosis. If something here fits you, bring it to your therapist or doctor and make a plan together. Please don’t stop a medication, or stop drinking heavily, on your own without medical advice.

Sources

All sources, linked9 references⌄
  1. Volkow ND, Koob GF, McLellan AT. Neurobiologic Advances from the Brain Disease Model of Addiction. N Engl J Med. 2016;374:363-71. pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/26816013/
  2. Koob GF, Volkow ND. Neurobiology of addiction: a neurocircuitry analysis. Lancet Psychiatry. 2016;3:760-773. pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/27475769/
  3. Berridge KC, Robinson TE. Liking, wanting, and the incentive-sensitization theory of addiction. Am Psychol. 2016;71:670-679. pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/27977239/
  4. Wood W, Rünger D. Psychology of Habit. Annu Rev Psychol. 2016;67:289-314. pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/26361052/
  5. Kelly JF, Westerhoff CM. Does it matter how we refer to individuals with substance-related conditions? A randomized study of two commonly used terms. Int J Drug Policy. 2010;21:202-7. pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/20005692/
  6. NIDA. Drugs, Brains, and Behavior: The Science of Addiction. nida.nih.gov/publications/drugs-brains-behavior-science-addiction
  7. SAMHSA National Helpline, 1-800-662-HELP (4357), free, confidential, 24/7 (as listed on HHS.gov). www.samhsa.gov/find-help/helplines/national-helpline
  8. FindTreatment.gov (SAMHSA treatment locator). findtreatment.gov/
  9. 988 Suicide & Crisis Lifeline. 988lifeline.org/

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