Understanding Addiction

Let’s return to John’s driving metaphor and fit it with what we know of the brain. As per my last post, let’s look at choice as a blip, a flash of intention, that rides on the momentum of underlying habits. Skillful drivers have built up a repertoire of good habits, like alertness, sensitivity, self-monitoring, and flexibility. […] (Read the rest.)

A comment by John Becker, near the bottom of the page two posts ago, gave us this automotive metaphor — for steering through a thicket of addictive possibilities and staying on the road: “…you drive defensively, paying attention. Not too tight; not too loose. You’re not so afraid of having an accident that you’re all […] (Read the rest.)

Hi all. Here are a few updates to fill the idle hours of summertime. First, the homepage of this site has been revised, thanks to Victor (my web guy). It now includes links to a number of blogs, magazines, and other online entities that deal with addiction (mostly drugs and booze…but other stuff too) and […] (Read the rest.)

Notice, first, that I say “resulting from” choice. Nobody choses to be addicted. But as people become increasingly hooked, they may increasingly choose to take the pill or the drink, or to gamble or purge, and that’s the thing we need to examine. What is the role of choice in the onset of an addiction? […] (Read the rest.)

I’ve generally felt critical of the “disease” label for addiction. But having read your many comments and looked up some recent literature, I can now give it its due. In my last post, I argued that models and metaphors are not intrinsically different. A metaphor is a kind of model. And I commented that the […] (Read the rest.)