“At some point I got tired of justifying myself, finding beliefs that excused my actions, and doing the same things over and over. I decided it would make more sense to get advice from people who’d managed to overcome their dependence on substances, so I started opening up to friends who were in the Twelve Steps. They told me that addiction was not a moral or philosophical problem but a spiritual one. They told me I couldn’t think or work my way out of it; only God could free me from it.”