I haven't taken a position on this article. (I do, after all, value my life.
) It's a bit sensationalistic (the title itself is like something out of a trashy rag), and the author has a stake in persuading the reading public to at least reflect on his position. After all, he's selling a book.
Besides, it's just too easy to take apart something like this on the grounds that it's "unscientific," a reframing of older ideas, or that it doesn't deal enough with other factors involved in addictions. So I did what the author suggested and simply "absorbed the story." His emphasis on support rather than banishing or otherwise punishing the addict is at least compelling.
There is so much focus on alcohol and drugs, the ordeal of getting clean and sober, the stigma of addiction, the dangers of addiction, and the genesis of addiction that we sometimes lose sight of the social and interpersonal contributions that influence and sustain addictions. I've read a lot about social isolation, social anxiety, social phobia, extreme introversion and loneliness in connection with addictions, and in relentlessly declining help when we need it most, before and after recovery. Is all of that simply the result of our addictive behaviors?
My take-away from the article is the (for me) indispensable power of support in recovery. I could not have gotten sober without it.
The Likely Cause of Addiction Has Been Discovered, and It Is Not What You ThinkÂ*|Â*Johann Hari