The biology of desire. Addiction is not a disease (The Biology of Desire. Why Addiction Is Not a Disease)

I’ve been reading this book by Mark Lewis for five years and I can say that it won the Prose Awards as the best psychological book in history. 2016 year. The author clearly and consistently argues in the first chapters that addiction is not a disease. Next, the author is engaged in storytelling and we get acquainted with 5 Stories of addicts who fascinate with their realism. In each story, Mark explains how the human brain worked aka, what the prerequisites were, how addiction developed, and how it was successfully overcome. At the end of the book, the author gives a very encouraging summary for addicts. (One of them was once himself.): “If the work of the part of the brain responsible for thinking about the future is synchronized with the work of the parts of the brain that push us to achieve our goals, and if this connection is constantly used and maintained, so that the synaptic highways become smooth and efficient, then addiction becomes only a stage of development of the self.” And that seems to be what it is.

In general, the book is very interesting and useful. Using the approach described in the book, you can retrospectively assess your life and understand what addictions you have. Further assess how much they interfere with you and in the future to build your future goals so that addiction became just a stage of development, and in the future simply gone into the past:)

#Psychology #Brain #PopularScience