So it is important to understand the true nature of Addiction?
Yes, it is important to see compulsion as the driving force of true addiction. It is the compulsion of addiction and physical dependency that leads to the reckless and dangerous behaviors of opiate addiction.

To understand that the compulsion of addiction is lingering, recurrent and powerful is to understand why stopping to use is a first step - and that not starting to use again is a day to day process of recovery.

To understand that the compulsion of addiction arises from the inside is to understand why a lasting recovery requires acceptance in place of denial and personal responsibility in place of blame.

“Life is unfair. There is always something or somebody to blame.

I blamed my wife for so long that she came to believe it herself.

She didn’t know that she was just taking over from where my parents left off.

So many people have thought if they could change or fix something about me, that I would stop using.”

Distant past events, concurrent psychiatric disorder, strained relationships, traumatic life events and the consequences of addiction all influence the onset and course of drug addiction. But treatment of these alone is not treatment for addiction.

Without attention to the primary compulsion of addiction, other efforts are like trying to hold a burning house together without putting out the fire. Lasting recovery from addiction requires an understanding of the true nature of addiction.