Janice Dorn, MD, PhD
Neuropsychological Trading Coach
Janice Dorn, M.D., Ph.D., has been a full-time futures trader since 1994. Doctor Janice holds an M.D. in psychiatry and is board-certified by the American Board of Psychiatry and Neurology in general psychiatry and addiction psychiatry. She holds a Ph.D. in brain anatomy. A graduate of Coach University, she is a pioneer market psychiatrist and financial neurobehaviorist. Doctor Janice has written over 500 articles on the financial markets and coached over 600 traders worldwide. She is the Global Risk Strategist for Ingenieux Wealth Management Group, Sydney, Australia.
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Our brains are hard-wired for immediate gratification. This is part of what drives us to get up early every morning, scan the markets for setups, go into trading rooms waiting for a cue to do something, going from newsletter to newsletter looking for the Holy Grail, the hot tip, the trading system or whatever it is that will bring you money right away. This is rat brain behavior which is correlated with addiction to the neurotransmitter, dopamine.
Cocaine, an highly-addictive controlled substance, works on the brain receptors which control dopamine. Cocaine blocks the reuptake of dopamine, the nerve cells then( sensing there is not enough dopamine since the reuptake has been blocked) respond by releasing more dopamine. It is this release of dopamine which causes the "high" and the "high" which causes the addict to seek out more cocaine. More cocaine usage= more dopamine. Until it doesn't.
This means that, at some point, the addict will become habituated or tolerant to cocaine, it will take more cocaine to release the same amount of dopamine and, eventually, the dopamine release will no longer produce a high. The addict then continues to take more and more cocaine in an attempt to get back the high, and cannot. Addiction is always about trying to reproduce the original dopamine rush from the first hit. In time, the more one tries to do this, the more futile it becomes and, eventually, it stops working altogether. People keep using the drug to get the high, but they are not getting high. They are now addicted to the POSSIBILITY that they will get high again and feel the rush of pleasure they did before their brains became tolerant. At some point, addicts come to a place with is called "hitting bottom." In twelve-step terminology, they are emotionally, mentally, financially and spiritually bankrupt.
Do you see in any way how this applies to what many of you are doing in trading? How many of you get up every morning looking for the "high" you get if you make a good trade? How many of you, after a series of losing or poor trades start to take on more risk, become careless, lose more and more money and keep on taking increasing risk? How often do you become more demanding, more desperate to "do something" or to find a way to make this work so that you can get back that feeling of elation?
If you see yourself in anything I have written, it is time to step back and take a very close look at who you are, what drives you and why you are doing what you are doing. It is time for a fearless inventory. In order to become a really great and consistently productive trader, you must free yourself trying to find a "high" from trading.
This is a serious business. Your hard-earned monies and your financial future are on the line.
Please think about this, and let me hear your thoughts?
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