Unbroken Brain: A Revolutionary New Way of Understanding Addiction

by Maia Szalavitz

This makes the question of addiction and choice profoundly vexed. To me, a good analogy for the way will is hampered—but not eliminated entirely—is as follows: Consider a prisoner who is locked in a cell that contains a completely hidden trapdoor to an escape route. On the surface, there is no way out: the bars are strong and placed tightly together, the walls are stone, and the door is securely locked. The window is out of reach, and too small and barred, besides. If the prisoner does not know that the possibility of escape exists via the trapdoor, she is not “free” to choose it—even though another prisoner who does have that information can easily liberate himself. By analogy, while addicted, there are alternative behaviors available to you—and you sometimes even recognize that they do exist—but you simply can’t enact them or believe with enough conviction that they will genuinely help to power yourself through the necessary changes.