While we recognize loneliness and other sources of emotional pain as risk factors for misuse and addiction, we don’t make the connection often enough. I have found the opposite also to be true: social connection is an essential part of the addiction recovery process. In caring for patients over the years and during my time as surgeon general, I met thousands of people who struggled with addiction to opioids, alcohol, and other substances, and when I reflect on those who made it through that dark tunnel and emerged in recovery, nearly all of them described a trusted relationship or a trusted
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