The Addiction Shift: How Bibliotherapy Interrupts Craving, Restores Choice, and Rebuilds a Sense of Self
“It’s Like Something Takes Over.”
The Reader shook their head slowly. “When the craving hits, it’s not a thought. It’s a force. It’s a pull. I can know the consequences. I can remember the damage. And still, it’s like something hijacks me.”
Dr. Dubin didn’t argue. “That description is accurate. Addiction is not a failure of willpower. It’s a learned survival response” (Volkow & Koob, 2015).
Dr. Sidor: “Craving reflects dysregulated reward circuitry, where cues override long-term values” (Everitt & Robbins, 2005).
The Reader exhaled. “So I’m not weak?”
Dr. Dubin: “No. Your brain learned a shortcut to relief.”
Why Addiction Narrows Choice
Reader: “It feels like I don’t have options.”
Dr. Sidor: “Because addiction collapses decision-making into urgency. The prefrontal cortex goes offline during craving” (Goldstein & Volkow, 2011).
Dr. Dubin: “In that state, the brain isn’t choosing pleasure. It’s avoiding distress.”
Stories Create Distance From the Urge
Reader: “But how does reading help when the urge is physical?”
Dr. Sidor: “Urges rise and fall like waves; but people drown when they fuse with them” (Marlatt & Gordon, 1985).
Dr. Dubin: “Stories slow time. They create a pause, and pause restores choice.”
Shame Fuels Addiction. Stories Dissolve It
Dr. Dubin: “Shame strengthens addiction by isolating people from hope” (Tangney & Dearing, 2002).
Characters Model Recovery Without Preaching
Dr. Sidor: “Stories reflect the nonlinear nature of recovery” (Prochaska & DiClemente, 1983).
The Existential Layer: Reclaiming Choice and Identity
Dr. Dubin: “Freedom isn’t never craving. Freedom is remembering you can choose.”
Reflection Prompts
What does craving promise you?
How do you usually respond to urges?
What might change if urges were treated as temporary states?
Selected References
Everitt, Barry J., and Trevor W. Robbins. “Neural Systems of Reinforcement for Drug Addiction: From Actions to Habits to Compulsion.” Nature Neuroscience, vol. 8, no. 11, 2005, pp. 1481–1489.
Goldstein, Rita Z., and Nora D. Volkow. “Dysfunction of the Prefrontal Cortex in Addiction: Neuroimaging Findings and Clinical Implications.” Nature Reviews Neuroscience, vol. 12, no. 11, 2011, pp. 652–669.
Marlatt, G. Alan, and Judith R. Gordon. Relapse Prevention: Maintenance Strategies in the Treatment of Addictive Behaviors. Guilford Press, 1985.
Prochaska, James O., and Carlo C. DiClemente. “Stages and Processes of Self-Change of Smoking: Toward an Integrative Model of Change.” Journal of Consulting and Clinical Psychology, vol. 51, no. 3, 1983, pp. 390–395.
Tangney, June Price, and Ronda L. Dearing. Shame and Guilt. Guilford Press, 2002.
Volkow, Nora D., and George F. Koob. “Brain Disease Model of Addiction: Why Is It So Controversial?” The Lancet Psychiatry, vol. 2, no. 8, 2015, pp. 677–679.
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