Addiction and the self

Datos Bibliográficos

ID21364033
AutoresHarry Pickard (0000-0001-5926-1377, Johns Hopkins University, autor de correspondencia)
Año2021
Volumen55
Número4
Páginas737-761
Fecha de publicación2021-12-01
Peer ReviewedSí
Open AccessSí
TipoARTICLE
RevistaNoûs (JOURNAL)
Identificadores de la revistaISSN: 0029-4624 • E-ISSN: 1468-0068
EditorialWiley (PUBLISHER • GB)
DOI10.1111/nous.12328
OpenAlexW3005124685
IdiomaEN
Citas recibidas37
Referencias citadas89

Addiction is standardly characterized as a neurobiological disease of compulsion. Against this characterization, I argue that many cases of addiction cannot be explained without recognizing the value of drugs to those who are addicted; and I explore in detail an insufficiently recognized source of value, namely, a sense of self and social identity as an addict. For people who lack a genuine alternative sense of self and social identity, recovery represents an existential threat. Given that an addict identification carries expectations of continued consumption despite negative consequences, there is therefore a parsimonious explanation of why people who identify as addicts continue to use drugs despite these consequences: they self‐identify as addicts and that is what addicts are supposed to do. I conclude by considering how it is nonetheless possible to overcome addiction despite this identity, in part by imagining and enacting a new one. Importantly, this possibility requires the availability of social support and material resources that are all too frequently absent in the lives of those who struggle with addiction

Addiction · Aesthetics · Epistemology · Existentialism · Identification (biology) · Identity (music) · Psychiatry · Psychology of self · Psychotherapist · Self · Value (mathematics) · Mental Health and Psychiatry · Psychedelics and Drug Studies · Psychology · Psychology of Moral and Emotional Judgment · Social Psychology