Why Can't Johnny Just Quit? ― A Common Sense Guide to Understanding Addiction

Currently, addiction is defined as "a continued behavior in spite of knowing that such continued behavior will harm oneself." It is characterized by "the lack of self-control and feeling of helplessness in spite of such knowledge. "Unfortunately, although this describes the behavior that we call addiction, it does not explain why it happens. The current theory why addiction happens is that it is a maladjusted coping mechanism to deal with underlying psychological ills in one's life; the feeling of helplessness or hopelessness and depressionxiety lead some to seek solace from a drug and thus become addicted. The current treatment of addiction is based on this premise. If you treat the person's underlying psychological problem(s), then you can treat the addiction. The above theory may seem to offer hope; an addict can be treated of his psychological ills and be cured of his addiction. However, this theory misses the mark because it confuses abuse with addiction. Not everyone who abused drugs to find solace for their depression or anxiety became addicted, and not everyone who became addicted were trying to find solace from a drug. The above theory gives rise to many misconceptions about addiction, and complicates this topic. If the current approach to addiction worked, we wouldn't have an addiction epidemic, and I wouldn't be proposing a new way of looking at this age-old problem.In this book, I explain addiction in a way that explain the behavior that we now call addiction. By truly understanding why some people can get addicted while most don't, I offer a way to prevent many from getting addicted in the first place.