Rat Park?

I somehow got on a list for Oprah's magazine, and most of the time it ends up in the electronic File 13. However, today was different. An article about how to stop self-sabotage caught my eye, and after nodding my head in agreement over how the author assisted a client through her issues, I noticed a link to something about Rat Park. I couldn't resist checking it out. Here's an excerpt from the online article:

"The term comes from a study conducted in 1981 by psychologist Bruce Alexander and colleagues. He noted that many addiction studies had something in common: The lab rats they used were locked in uncomfortable, isolating cages. Testing a hunch, Alexander gathered two groups of rats. For the first, he built a 200-square-foot rodent paradise called Rat Park. There a colony of white Wister rats found luxurious accommodations for all their favorite pastimes—mingling, mating, raising pups, writing articles for newspaper tabloids. The second group was housed in the traditional cages. Alexander offered both groups a choice of plain water or sugar water laced with morphine. Like rats in other studies, the traditionally caged animals became instant addicts. However, the residents of Rat Park tended to "just say no," avoiding the drug-treated sugar water. Even rats that were already addicted to morphine tended to lay off the hard stuff when in Rat Park. Put them back in their cages, however, and they'd stay stoned as Deadheads." (Martha Beck)

Whoa.... First thought: "How cool!" Second thought: "How Cruel!" Third thought: "Rats can write?"

How many times do we willingly cage ourselves, only to medicate our unhappiness with drugs, alcohol, excess shopping, illicit affairs, or extended stays in grad school? Who told us that there was no way out? We get to choose each day if we live in a cage or in our own version of Rat Park. I think the park sounds like a nicer place. How about you?