Unbroken Brain A Revolutionary New Way of Understanding Addiction [Paperback]

A NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER

More people than ever before see themselves as addicted to, or recovering from, addiction, whether it be alcohol or drugs, prescription meds, sex, gambling, porn, or the internet. But despite the unprecedented attention, our understanding of addiction is trapped in unfounded 20th century ideas, addiction as a crime or as brain disease, and in equally outdated treatment.

Challenging both the idea of the addict's broken brain and the notion of a simple addictive personality,Unbroken Brainoffers a radical and groundbreaking new perspective, arguing that addictions are learning disorders and shows how seeing the condition this way can untangle our current debates over treatment, prevention and policy. Like autistic traits, addictive behaviors fall on a spectrum -- and they can be a normal response to an extreme situation. By illustrating what addiction is, and is not, the book illustrates how timing, history, family, peers, culture and chemicals come together to create both illness and recovery- and why there is no addictive personality or single treatment that works for all.

Combining Maia Szalavitzs personal story with a distillation of more than 25 years of science and research,Unbroken Brainprovides a paradigm-shifting approach to thinking about addiction.

Maia Szalavitz is one of the bravest, smartest writers about addiction anywhere. Everything she writes should be read carefully - I guarantee you'll have a lot to think about, and you'll know far more than at the start.
Johann Hari,New York Timesbestselling author ofChasing the Scream

Maia Szalavitz is one of our most incisive thinkers about neuroscience in general and addiction in particular and her writing is astonishingly clear and compelling. In the timely, important, and insightfulUnbroken Brain,Szalavitz seamlessly interweaves her moving personal story with l3„