We keep telling people to let go of the very thing that may have been keeping them afloat

Stop drinking
Stop using
Stop gambling
Stop escaping

Of course the behaviour may be destroying their life now

Yet that doesn’t tell us why they keep reaching for it

What if, somewhere along the way, addiction became the thing that made an unbearable internal experience bearable?

The thing that brought relief

The thing that quietened everything for a moment

The thing that helped them survive an experience they didn’t yet know how to carry

Then simply taking it away leaves us with a very important question:

What happens to the person when their way of staying afloat disappears?

This is why I’m far more interested in understanding the function of addiction than condemning the behaviour

Don’t just ask:

“Why won’t they let go?”

Ask

“Why do they still need to hold on?”