Addiction doesn’t only take the form of substances or obvious behaviors. It can also take the form of addictive processes that organize life around managing internal discomfort. This article explores what addiction was trying to manage and how awareness begins to change the pattern.

Relapse is predictable when addiction is misunderstood. If addiction is a strategy used to manage internal discomfort, then recovery has to address more than the addictive behavior. It has to address what addiction was trying to manage.

Recovery can go deeper than abstinence and self-control. This article explores addiction as a strategy that was trying to help, why surface recovery can leave something unresolved, and how deeper recovery includes understanding what addiction was managing and recovering access to authenticity.