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Lily Pond's avatar

Thank you for this important work to raise awareness of addiction. I really like what you said at the end of the video, "Addiction is an attempt to take care of oneself." This is by far the most compassionate definition of addiction that I've ever heard. I also resonate with what you said about socially accepted coping strategies that are addictive. I think most people turn to those strategies one way or another and to different degrees. I recently discovered the insiduous ways my brain got addicted to certain award-seeking behaviors that are actually condoned or even celebrated by our culture today. (I wrote about it here: https://lilypond.substack.com/i/137155862/sitting-alone-with-my-plight-made-me-realize-i-was-an-addict). I think if we can pass along the idea that addiction is the part inside us that tries to protect us--and therefore, like you said, its attempt to take care of oneself, then there won't be any more need to hide or stigmatize it.

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