In a recent article by Adam Levy published in Bloomberg, neuroscientists and psychologists have made the startling discovery that a centre in our brains, the core of human desire, stimulated by food, drugs, and that other three letter word starting with S, also triggers the release of dopamine when exposed to the thought of making money. Dopamine is a chemical that is believed to produce pleasure and euphoria.

The lure of instant money!!! It never goes away, some of us hide it better than others; the reasoning behind the never ending hope is that you, and you alone, will be the next big winner. Go into any casino in Las Vegas; the chairs in front of the Wheel of Fortune slot machines are never empty. Hope springs eternal.

And what could be more euphoric than the thought of winning the Powerball lottery ? 365 million dollars? A group of employees from a Nebraska meat packing plant did just that a few weeks ago, beating the odds, which were 1 in 146 million. As they described in their interview, each week they circulated a lottery pool and bought tickets based upon the amounts collected. In the news photos featured around the world, these incredibly modest people (several immigrants seeking a better life) working at every day jobs in a remote corner of the United States, beamed rays of intense light.

Each one of them will take away a net amount of approximately 14 million dollars.

For those who do win such an amazing bounty, the change in their life can be life-threatening. Almost all succumb to never wanting to work again; to be out of debt, to have a huge house, big car, luxuriate in cruises, shopping and so on. New wealth though, can distort your sense of community and your place within a close knit society. It can irrevocably change your relationship with your friends and family.

How do you handle unfound wealth? Very badly, for the most part, experts say. According to websites, California?s Silicon Valley, where experts say 60 new millionaires are created every day, there is exhibited a new set of symptoms: Too much money, too much loneliness.

After treating many patients, psychologists have a name for it: ?Sudden Wealth Syndrome?. Helping clients handle sudden wealth (imagine having to cope with too much money) they have commonly seen an array of symptoms:

embarrassment, guilt, shame, denial about the money

many become hoarders rather than spenders terrified that they will lose it all, then proceed to do just that

tremendous sense of isolation

An imbalance in an otherwise orderly life, with nothing meaningful to do, after all you don?t need to work any more, do you?

Real discomfort when trying to cope with other?s envy ? imagine those factory workers trying to deal with their co-workers who did not contribute to the pool that week.

fear for their safety

feel that they may be perceived as tasteless by spending money extravagantly

feel overwhelmed by friends, relatives, and complete strangers asking for loans, investments, gifts

feeling paralysed, lacking a complete inability to make any money decision.

And the old clich? is true: Money doesn?t buy happiness.

Tales abound of winners who had substance abuse problems before winning, became worse afterward. Some have passed away prematurely. One winner who had served time in jail, but paid his debt to society afterward, had just lost his new job.

His response to winning $40 million ? ?I?m hoping to make a change in a positive way,? David Edwards told CNN in 2001. ?We?re going to try to listen to some financial advisers, get the money invested so that other future generations will have this money as well, not just us. We need a new house.?

Edwards? fiancee, volunteered that she was getting a Ferrari and Edwards stated he wanted a Rolls Royce. Hmm, I wonder if they have any of that $41 million left? Instant millionaires often move to a much nicer neighbourhood, and try to make new friends.

That is exactly the type of sudden change specialists advise against as assuming a new identity as a ?rich person? is not so easy. Suddenly, philosophical questions arise about who you are, what are your real values, and how do you regain your old friends, now that you are different?

Even one of the more conservative couples who took their money and used a reasoned approach to achieving a common goal of providing for family and community were sued by their office pool. The couple won won $73.7 million in the national Powerball lottery after purchasing tickets in a variety store. The Mrs. just happened to have also bought the tickets for the office pool ? those did not contain the winning number. Just 13 days after winning, they established a nonprofit, Narragansett Number One Foundation, to improve the lives of people in Maine and have continued on with their relatively now, normal lives.

So what?s the advice here? Even if you do ?win? something, count it only as an extra. Keep your lives on a normal course ? give back to the community if you can.

For in the end, it is your value as a person of substance to every member of your family, job, community and church that determines whether you will have a happy life. Money really helps, but not how you value yourself and who are you are, truly are inside.

In continuation of my new column on ?Getting your Foods Worth?, I am interested in hearing any stories on innovative ways to shop, save on groceries, value packed cooking, and ?just getting your foods worth? from readers.

You can send your comments anonymously to the Editor of the Gazette or to me confidentially at marthamyron@northrock.bm.