Reimagining Psychology: New Light on Addictions and Other Rogue Habits Kindle Edition

“First the man takes a drink; then the drink takes a drink; then the drink takes the man.”Maybe there's more truth to this old saying than we know. An addiction like alcoholism often starts slow, but seems to take on a life of its own. Soon what seemed a harmless habit is calling the shots, running our lives, hurting us and those we love, hanging on whether we like it or not. Why are addictions so persistent despite the trouble they cause? Are they simply our bad choices? Are they evidence of poor character or weak will? Maybe not. Maybe they are a kind of disease our psychology does not yet recognize.Author Tom Whitehead, a practicing psychotherapist, argues that addictions are "rogue habits," patterns of thought and action that have broken away from our controls, evolving in their own interest to relate to us as parasite to host. This book explores the possibility that snippets of our own behavior can hijack our lives, compelling us to repeat them despite our best intentions, and contrary to our own interests. Read more