num_pages: 256
description: Through the vivid true stories of five people who journeyed into and out of addiction a renowned neuroscientist explains why the disease model of addiction is wrong and illuminates the path to recovery.The psychiatric establishment and rehab industry in the Western world have branded addiction a brain disease. But in The Biology of Desire  cognitive neuroscientist and former addict Marc Lewis makes a convincing case that addiction is not a disease and shows why the disease model has become an obstacle to healing.Lewis reveals addiction as an unintended consequence of the brain doing what it's supposed to do-seek pleasure and relief-in a world that's not cooperating. As a result most treatment based on the disease model fails. Lewis shows how treatment can be retooled to achieve lasting recovery. This is enlightening and optimistic reading for anyone who has wrestled with addiction either personally or professionally.
language: English
title: The Biology of Desire: Why Addiction Is Not a Disease
publisher: PublicAffairs