-
Biology, environment, or psychology? Which is most important in addiction?
I get asked this question a lot, both by people who are fully committed to the biological (or brain) model of addiction and ones who thinks it’s crap and that it’s all about psychology, experience, and motivation. The thing is that it is absolutely impossible to separate the influence of the brain, environment, and psychology…
-
Biology versus Choice: Is a simple explanation of addiction enough?
At the recent Addictions conference, held in D.C. and sponsored by Elsevier, a well known academic publishing house, I got myself into one of those long debates with a fellow addiction researcher. The question we were debating was whether addiction is primarily biological or if it is mostly a matter of personal choice. We ran…
-
Is anonymity the final shame frontier in addiction?
I’m a drug addict and a sex addict, and as far as I’m concerned, staying anonymous let’s me remain buried in shame, and a double life, that keeps me always one step ahead of those close to me. Did I say too much? Did I give away my secrets? None of thoseĀ questions matter when…