Marc Lewis's Blog, page 7

Quitting because you can — a bedtime story

I’ve been warming up to a post or two on the power of the internal dialogue. But first, as a lead-up, here’s a little patch of last night, a mundane yet eventful exchange with my son. Strangely, it made me think about quitting drugs. So I wrote this down before I went to bed. Isabel […] (Read the rest.)

Small steps out of addiction

Not to be confused with the 12 steps, but read on. Two posts ago I said I’d suggest practical applications for some of Jordan Peterson’s self-help recommendations, as they might apply to people struggling with addiction. I hesitate to put Peterson’s name in the title of this post, as there has been such a fantastic […] (Read the rest.)

Substance addiction: Filling the empty self

I want to talk about the feeling of emptiness so many of us experience (sometimes as depression) and our sense that substances (i.e., drugs, alcohol) can fill that void. Why is this conceptual sinkhole so universal…and so relentless? Can it be overcome? If not, it seems we’re doomed to live our lives between two crappy […] (Read the rest.)

Peterson’s politics, my politics, and how much or how little they matter

I see that I need to supply a caveat to yesterday’s post. As expressed in no uncertain terms by the first commenter, a lot of people don’t like Peterson. The comment was “Ugh, seriously?” There’s more vituperous criticism further down, of me (for appreciating Peterson) as well as Peterson himself. When I scan down the […] (Read the rest.)

Using Jordan Peterson’s approach for moving beyond addiction

I haven’t been blogging much lately, mainly because I’ve been busy with other things. One of those things has been writing a review of Jordan Peterson’s book, 12 Rules for Life: An Antidote to Chaos. The review was commissioned by the Literary Review of Canada (LRC) — the Canadian cousin of the New York Review […] (Read the rest.)

Our disease debate (now on YouTube) and why it might not matter

Just got back from the US the day before yesterday, and I’m mostly trying to reset my body clock, nine hours ahead of where it was in California, or maybe behind, or is it ten hours with Daylight Savings…? I haven’t quite got it worked out. Anyway, just this morning it occurred to me that […] (Read the rest.)

Common ground with Nora Volkow?

Hi all, This morning I finally had a chance to listen to our debate in Amsterdam from 9th January (which will soon be posted). And I find that we are not that far apart on some points, though we remain in opposite corners on others. When I posted the slides from my talk and described […] (Read the rest.)

Okay, what about compulsion?

Two posts ago I promised to follow up on “what is addiction?” by supplying the missing piece. Anyone who has experienced addiction or  studied it knows that compulsion is that piece — the elephant in the living room. Here’s a quick review: A key aspect of addiction, as we experience it, is the urge to […] (Read the rest.)

Profiting from pain: Big Pharma, big marketing, and opiate addiction

…by Nick Johns…  With the number of regulatory departments and protective measures in place today, we as consumers are inclined to believe that a product or service has been proven safe before it’s approved for public use. We’d like to think that if something turns out to be dangerous or harmful, the responsible party will […] (Read the rest.)

Then what is addiction?

The talk I gave in Amsterdam had the title, “A Brain Disease or What?” This post is about the or what? But in attempting to define addiction, I come up with three words, rather than one: Habit Relationship Narrative …and these words have to work together to explain what addiction is. The idea that addiction […] (Read the rest.)