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Addiction is a complex and serious circumstance. Recovery requires acknowledgment and acceptance.

It is important to appreciate and understand that choices always lead to consequences.

Any discussion or consideration involving addiction and recovery must begin and conclude with medical advice.

Before making any decisions, ultimately and always, any discussion or consideration involving addiction and recovery must begin, continue, and conclude with medical advice. Addiction is a complex and serious circumstance. One point to consider is that the first step toward the road of recovery is the cognitive action of acknowledgment and acceptance (Chen, 2022; Lewis, 2018; Purje, 2014).

If acknowledgment and acceptance are not present, denial may become the determining thought, which then may continue with the ongoing addictive behavior. Without the insight of acknowledgment and acceptance of addiction, the process of recovery may not necessarily continue or even begin (Purje, 2014; Prochaska et al., 1992).

Former self-acknowledged addict Marc Lewis (a professor emeritus of developmental psychology and neuroscientist) argues that addiction is a desire, that it is learned and not a disease. According to Lewis, a behavior is often repeated when feelings of excitement, delight, or pleasure occur (Lewis, 2018).

Further to this, neuroscience informs that the neural pathways associated with repeated thoughts and behaviors become stronger and more efficient. This is the same mechanism that allows us to learn skills, form habits, or develop preferences. According to Lewis, addiction initially begins as a pattern of choices that changes the brain and leads to learned behaviors. According to Lewis, and also supported by Purje (2014), this behavior of addiction will continue until the individual makes the choice to change their thinking and behavior.

According to Lewis, this is how he eventually changed his thinking and behavior, and removed addiction from his life (which clinicians might refer to as sustained remission). Lewis’ account of addiction continues to prompt discussion, and a range of perspectives remain active in the field (Powell et al., 2026).

Disease Model vs Choice Model in Understanding Addiction

The literature informs that there are those who maintain a disease‑based interpretation of addiction, while others, including Lewis, emphasize that addiction is a choice and a developmental and........

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