There are three key elements to the understanding of addiction that I have described.
First, every addictive act is preceded by a feeling of helplessness or powerlessness (an overwhelming of the capacity to manage without feeling emotionally flooded). Addictive behavior functions to repair this underlying feeling of helplessness. It is able to do this because taking the addictive action (or even deciding to take this action) creates a sense of being empowered, of regaining control over one’s emotional experience and one’s life. This reversal of helplessness may be described as the psychological purpose of addiction.
Second, states of overwhelming helplessness inevitably produce a particular kind of fury at this challenge to the normal sense of being able to control one’s own mind. This fury serves as the powerful drive behind addiction.
Finally, in addictions, the emotional purpose and drive are always expressed in a substitute action (a displacement), rather than taking a direct route toward dealing with the helplessness. For example, a person who is cut off in traffic and is infuria