While there is no doubt that addiction of any kind can have devastating and lasting effects on both the users and their loved ones, the origin, cause, and nature of addiction remains a matter of much research and speculation among doctors, scientists, therapists and treatment specialists. Today’s New York Times features an essay by psychiatrist and resident scholar at the American Enterprise Institute Sally Satel that challenges the notion that "Addiction does not discriminate; it doesn’t care if you are rich or poor, famous or unknown, man, woman or even a child." Satel believes instead that there is a fundamental difference between those who become addicted, and those who do not, and that "attitudes, values, and behaviors play a potent role as well." Cited in Satel’s essay is Gene Heyman, lecturer and research psychologies at Harvard Medical School and McLean Hospital, and author of the forthcoming HUP title Addiction: A Disorder of Choice, to be published in May 2009. Stay tuned to these pages for more info on Heyman’s thesis.
