Thrust

What is addiction? Should it only include alcoholism and drug addiction, or are we also addicted to gambling, sex, food, work, smartphones, and even love? Carl Eric Fischer knows this ancient disease especially well — as a psychiatrist and addiction specialist and as a patient. For ten years, he conducted research and wrote this book, examining the multifaceted history of addiction — medical, political, philosophical, cultural, religious. Fischer set himself the goal of not only studying all possible medications and methods of therapy, but also finding out why a disease that has affected the lives of millions of people still causes condemnation and misunderstanding. How do we fall into the trap of addiction and why is it so difficult for us to get out of it even in the face of death? Is it possible to eradicate it at all? And what in our body resists recovery? One thing is clear: the path to healing must begin with compassion. After all, only it will allow us to shift the focus from the disease to its victims and understand how to help them.