Dr. Gabor Maté

So what I'm saying is that addiction is never a choice.

and it's not some kind of genetic disease, which that is total nonsense.

What it actually is, is an attempt to solve a problem in your life.

In your case, you were trying to solve the problem of being trapped, which is based on your childhood trauma, which you publicly talk about.

In my case,

The workaholism was about trying to prove to myself that I had the right to exist, that it was important.

You're worthy of love.

That I was worthy of love, exactly.

Acceptance and all that.

Now that also came from a childhood experience.

So addiction is never like either a disease as such.

It can behave like a disease, but it isn't a disease as such.

It's also not a choice anybody makes.

It's actually an attempt to solve a deep life problem that was imposed on a person by trauma in every case.

Well, I think very rarely it is possible for an individual.

Maybe they have some deep spiritual experience.

Maybe they're out there in nature and all of a sudden they're at one with the universe.

They feel connected.

Exactly.

So that can happen.