Page 4 - My FlipBook

Chapter Two

Why Do People

Develop

Addictions?

Although some people still believe addiction is a choice, re-
search overwhelmingly shows that addiction is a disease.
Addiction rewires the brain by hijacking its reward system—
and it can happen to anyone. Still, people need to consume
the substance or engage in the behavior before it can be-
come an addiction. Moreover, a mix of factors—such as
genetics, exposure, choices at an early age, and the role
of industry—infl uence the likelihood of becoming an addict.
Sometimes, family members whose lives have been
uprooted by an addict have diffi culty accepting the idea
that addiction is a brain disease. J.D. Vance, the author
of Hillbilly Elegy (the acclaimed memoir that explores so-
cial isolation, poverty, and addiction in America’s poor white
communities), grew up with a mother who was addicted
to prescription narcotics. He and his sister were subjected
to years of neglect and a revolving door of their mother’s
boyfriends. When Vance was thirteen years old, he experi-
enced a particularly humiliating episode. His mother walked
outside one day and stood in their front yard in Middletown,
Ohio—dressed only in a bath towel. Intoxicated on a cock-
tail of prescription pills and alcohol, she was screaming at
her children and other bystanders before police offi cers ar-
rived and put her in their patrol car. When Vance’s mother

21