Addiction

Jamison uses the theme of addiction to capture the way in which addiction is a continuum: we all have dependences of one sort or another. The author uses a wide variety of addiction tales to demonstrate how it does not matter if one is addicted to alcohol, crack, or nicotine--addiction is a very real phenomenon, and can take many forms. At the same time, she asserts the validity of chemical addiction. She argues for the need to understand that certain people are biologically predisposed to certain types of addiction over others. While addiction is a spectrum, there are certain forms of addiction, she argues, that are chemically harder to fight. For this reason, addicts should not be treated as criminals, but as patients in need of treatment just like any other sick person.

Jamison is constantly reasserting the importance of remembering the human behind the addiction. Whether that...