The Unexpected Joy of Being Sober: Discovering a happy, healthy, wealthy alcohol-free life

by Catherine Gray

Self-critical scripts are actually addictive, says neuroscientist Alex Korb, author of The Upward Spiral: Using Neuroscience to Reverse the Course of Depression, One Small Change at a Time. ‘Guilt, shame and self-pity activate the reward circuitry in the brain. The only way out of this addictive loop is to practice radical self-compassion instead.’

This chapter is merely a simplified depiction of what happens in the addicted brain. The best thing I’ve ever read on the neuroscience of addiction is The Biology of Desire: Why Addiction is Not a Disease by Marc Lewis. Check it out if you want a fantastically detailed description.