“When starving, when in love, and when parenting, being able to persist despite negative consequences—the essence of addictive behavior—is not a bug, but a feature, as programmers say. It can be the difference between life and death, between success and failure,” writes psychology and neuroscience journalist Maia Szalavitz in her book Unbroken Brain. “However, when brain pathways intended to promote [positive attributes] are diverted into addiction, their blessings become curses. Love and addiction are alterations of the same brain circuits.”17
