Video by rabbi_shais_taub

What people don't understand about addiction, which is actually the reason why I decline most invitations to speak about the topic, is that people think that addiction has to do with drugs and alcohol. And it has really very, very little to do with drugs and alcohol. First of all, there are other addictions. People become addicted to behaviors or to people, relationships.

It doesn't have to be a chemical. But secondly, and much more importantly, what people don't get is that the drug that the person is using to numb themselves is not the problem, it's the solution. I'll say it again. The drug is not the problem. The drug is the solution. Yeah, it's a solution that destroys your life,

but it's a solution nonetheless, meaning to say, the real issue of addiction is the underlying issue that the addict is attempting to address through the self-numbing behavior of the drug of choice. And what is that underlying condition? Very, very, very simple. a deep discomfort with one's own self. It's like being allergic to one's own self,

uncomfortable in your own skin, terminally unique, lonely in a crowded room, always wanting to feel a part of, instead feeling apart from. And that is that gnawing feeling that the drug or the alcohol, the high-risk behavior is being used to numb the person from, to distract them from,