Status Updates From The Biology of Desire: Why ...

Brilliant

True healing requires an act of radical self-compassion: forgiving the brain for doing exactly what it evolved to do (seeking survival and pair-bonding through a storm), grieving the toxic relationship with the target of that bond, and intentionally choosing to build a life narrative where the substance is no longer needed.

…the neural plasticity of the brain seeking salience in the ordinary life is bound to happen due to how the brain is wired. I. e. The rats in chapter one who adapted to the watering hole instead of the morphine.
In recovery, the brain will eventually mellow out to a baseline without the substance and will start seeking pleasure all over again: in food, attachment, sleep, beauty, etc.

Long journey, more reading.

Not addicted to this.

…the only characteristic that predicted relapse 6 months after concluded outpatient treatment for alcohol dependence was “the extent to which clients endorses disease model beliefs before entering treatment.”

The stories are interesting and illuminating to some extent but the brain anatomy leaves me cold.