Treatable

Rethinking Addiction and How to Get Care Right

From one of the worlds leading experts on addiction, a paradigm shift that shows us why weve got addiction wrong and how to get it right

Addiction has long been considered an illness without a cure. Worse, some have regarded addiction not as a disease at all, but as a moral failing. While progress has been made in our understanding of addiction – its genetic inheritance, its neurobiology, its link to trauma – our perspective on interventions, treatment, and outcomes has barely moved on.

Now, in Treatable, leading addiction expert Dr Sarah Wakeman challenges us to consider: what if weve had it all wrong? What if people with substance use disorder are not weak or hopeless or doomed? What if notions like allowing them to hit rock bottom or issuing hard ultimatums or sending them to rehab were, in fact, making them sicker instead of helping them get well? And