The first edition of The Myth of Addiction appeared
in 1992, and expressed my conviction that the view taken of
the state we describe as 'addicted' is too mechanistic and
too remote from the realm of human desires and purposes, too
often. Instead of a view of addiction problems as deriving
from the interaction of a substance, a setting, and the aims
and goals of those who use the substance (i.e. a view that
sees addiction as something that people do), the
prevailing notions tend to see addiction as something that happens
to people; that is, as something imposed from outside by
the inescapable pharmacological properties of an alien
substance, rather than as a state negotiated through the more
understandable channels of human desire and intention.
Central to this argument were certain observed facts
concerning attribution theory, and the ways in which people
explain their actions. From the standpoint of functional
attribution, the reasons people give for their drug use are
not, and never can be, hard or so-called 'objective' data on
why drug use happens. Consequently, the use of such
statements as criteria against which to validate
physiological or other measures, or as factual statements
from which to derive diagnostic criteria, is probably
misconceived. The Myth of Addiction argues that such
explanations are primarily functional. Explaining one's
behaviour as either within, or outwith, one's control has
either positive or negative consequences according to the
situation and in a climate of moral and legal censure it
makes sense to choose the latter.
Not everyone agrees with these propositions.
However, whenever I meet someone who has read the first
edition, I usually find that it has provoked a reaction;
sometimes positive, sometimes negative, and sometimes
somewhere in-between. And on odd occasions, people have even
found it necessary to make unsolicited statements about the
book in order to let others know how much they agreed, or
disagreed with it. However, regardless of outcome, I thank
everyone who bothered to comment for their views and for
having spent time in thinking about the issues raised. If The
Myth ... provoked any reaction, I am well pleased
whenever someone has been sufficiently energetic and
interested to read it.
I am particularly pleased that a second edition
is now considered desirable. Since the first edition, the
application of attribution theory to addiction problems has
developed somewhat, so there have been a few minor revisions.
The intention remains the same, however; simply to put back
some humanity and comprehensibility into a process too often
seen as arising from the magical power of drugs to change the
very bases of human behaviour, regardless of the goals and
purposes of the user.
