Joseph Caravella, MA, LADC currently practices as an addiction therapist for the Hazelden Betty Ford Foundation in Saint Paul, Minnesota. As an educator, he’s known for his high energy, breathtaking lectures—on addiction, forgiveness, and love. In
The Disease of Addiction, he masterfully unravels the complexities of the addicted brain, breaks down the fundamental components of addiction in easy-to-understand terms, and paints a detailed clinical picture with color sourced from his own harrowing experiences with addiction, mental illness, and early recovery.
Importantly, The Disease of Addiction is the first book to correlate the nearly 90-year-old wisdom of the Alcoholics Anonymous program—the allergy of the body, the obsession of the mind, the malady of the spirit—with the modern neurobiology of addiction. Finally! An accessible explanation of how certain vulnerable individuals “cross the indivisible line” with their substance use, developing a permanent abnormal response to intoxication experience. How intoxication and emotional bonding with a chemical imprints a person’s brain, creating euphoric memory and feedback loops that fuel obsessive rumination and the seeking of the mood-altering substance. For the person new to recovery, or the person contemplating sobriety, The Disease of Addiction forms a solid, scientifically-backed foundation, upon which a program of recovery can be built.
PrefaceMy path to recovery began in 2008. A more formal study of addiction began three years later. After countless hours of empirical observation, participation in over a thousand twelve-step meetings, obtaining a graduate degree, and years treating the illness, it is apparent that addiction is not an easy subject to understand. However, knowledge is power! After a close study of the best textbooks and reports elucidating the biology of addiction, I believe the information is sound and of the utmost importance. The challenge, then, lies in explaining a complex brain disease to a person with a dysregulated brain. Not to mention worried family members and loved ones and all the persons in our society who still believe addiction is a matter of choice.
It has been my privilege to lecture on the disease of addiction to large treatment populations for years. Inspired by requests for written material beyond my lectures and on a personal mission to improve addiction education, I wrote this short book as a meditation exploring the evolutionary perspective of chemical use, the origins of the Alcoholics Anonymous program, current understanding of the neuroscience of addiction, and how scientific evidence substantiates the Twelve-Step solution.
I speak directly to the person struggling with their chemical use who is ambivalent about change. In my eyes, they are the newcomer to recovery. And when discussing addiction, they are the sort for whom I am most concerned.
Special thanks to my clients, mentors, colleagues, family, friends, and especially my wife for supporting this effort. I have learned many recovery lessons over the years. Here’s an important one: I can only keep what peace and love I have by freely giving it away.
In part, this is my love for you.
