What has this addictive urge done for me? you will ask. It has caused me to spend money heedlessly or to stuff myself when I wasn’t hungry or to be absent from the ones I love or to expend my energies on activities I later regretted. It has wasted my time. It has led me to lie and to cheat and to pretend—first to myself and then to everyone close to me. It has left me feeling ashamed and isolated. It promised joy and delivered bitterness. Such has been its real value to me; such has been the effect of my allowing some disordered brain circuits to run my life. The real “value” of my addictive
...more
