Is Addiction a Learning Disorder?
Maia Szalavitz drew on years of research, as well as her own battles with cocaine and heroin, in writing her new book, Unbroken Brain: A Revolutionary New Way of Understanding Addiction. Szalavitz, a 2015 Soros Justice Fellow, talks about her work and what’s wrong with drug policy today.
14 Jun 2016Addiction is compulsive behavior that occurs despite negative consequences. This is the most widely accepted definition of the problem in medicine and psychiatry. However, policymakers and others haven’t really understood the implications of this. What it means is that, in essence, addiction is difficulty learning from punishment.
Addiction is compulsive behavior that occurs despite negative consequences. This is the most widely accepted definition of the problem in medicine and psychiatry. However, policymakers and others haven’t really understood the implications of this. What it means is that, in essence, addiction is difficulty learning from punishment.
It’s similar to what you see when people fall in love: a person’s priorities change dramatically, and people may lie or hide certain behavior in order to protect the relationship. This doesn’t mean that people with addiction are inherently liars or manipulative, or that we have no free will. It’s just that we are under a type of stress that often pushes us to become self-protective in this way. It is critical for policymakers to understand this because it means that punitive treatment and punitive criminal justice policy are doomed to fail.
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