If drug addiction is a disease like cancer or Alzheimer's, how do you explain the seemingly amoral behavior — the lying, cheating, and hiding — that has come to be linked with so many addicts?
The answer is far simpler than you might think, at least according to neuroscience journalist and author Maia Szalavitz, whose new book, "Unbroken Brain," throws water on most of the modern assumptions that plague our understanding of drug and alcohol addiction.
Addiction, she writes, is not a disease like cancer. But it's not a moral failing, either.
Instead she proposes that it's a learning disorder, much like ADHD, and needs to be treated as such. This treatment regimen would vary based on the individual but could include things like cognitive behavioral therapy, a form of psychotherapy in which the therapist and patient work together to swap unhealthy learned patterns with more constructive ways of thinking, and potentially medication.
[For more of this story, written by Erin Brodwin, go to http://www.businessinsider.com...ning-disorder-2016-4]
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