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.