The Biology of Desire: why addiction is not a disease

Discover the transformative insights in ‘The Biology of Desire: Why Addiction is Not a Disease’ by Marc Lewis, a groundbreaking exploration into the complex nature of addiction. This profound book challenges the conventional disease model of addiction, asserting that addiction is not a mere illness but an intricate interplay of brain function and learned behavior. Utilizing compelling narratives from five individuals who navigated their own battles with addiction, Lewis, a cognitive neuroscientist and former addict, unfolds the realities of addiction, illustrating how pleasure-seeking becomes distorted in a world indifferent to genuine needs.

Lewis’s arguments are rooted in scientific evidence showing how the brain is designed to adapt through learning and experience. While traditional approaches often frame addiction as a brain disease, this book posits that understanding the underlying mechanisms is crucial to effective treatment and recovery. By highlighting the brain’s plasticity, Lewis illustrates why many addiction treatments fail and discusses innovative alternative strategies that lead to lasting recovery.

Whether you’re seeking personal insight into addiction or looking for professional guidance, ‘The Biology of Desire’ offers a beacon of hope and comprehensive understanding. This 256-page trade paperback from Scribe Publications, published in 2015, is essential reading for anyone affected by addiction. Dive into a more hopeful narrative about recovery, and challenge preconceived notions. Grab your copy today at Smartfox NZ and enjoy FREE shipping. Please note that combined shipping with other products is not available for this item, and shipping may take up to 10 days.
Condition: BRAND NEW
ISBN: 9781925106640
Format: Trade paperback (UK)
Year: 2015
Publisher: Scribe Publications
Pages: 256

Description:
Through the vivid, true stories of five people who journeyed into and out of addiction, a renowned neuroscientist explains why the ‘disease model’ of addiction is wrong, and illuminates the path to recovery. The psychiatric establishment and rehab industry in the Western world have branded addiction a brain disease, based on evidence that brains change with drug use. But in The Biology of Desire, cognitive neuroscientist and former addict Marc Lewis makes a convincing case that addiction is not a disease, and shows why the disease model has become an obstacle to healing. Lewis reveals addiction as an unintended consequence of the brain doing what it’s supposed to do – seek pleasure and relief – in a world that’s not cooperating. Brains are designed to restructure themselves with normal learning and development, but this process is accelerated in addiction when highly attractive rewards are pursued repeatedly. Lewis shows why treatment based on the disease model so often fails, and how treatment can be retooled to achieve lasting recovery, given the realities of brain plasticity. Combining intimate human stories with clearly rendered scientific explanation, The Biology of Desire is enlightening and optimistic reading for anyone who has wrestled with addiction either personally or professionally. ‘A courageous and much-needed voice in rethinking addiction . . . Through his intimate personal and professional knowledge of addiction, Lewis reframes our understanding of its mechanisms and nature in a way that is empowering.’ Barbara Arrowsmith-Young, author of the The Woman Who Changed Her Brain

This product has FREE shipping however combined shipping for other products is not available with this item. Please allow up to 10 days for shipping.