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Someone's continued substance use or risky behavior after it causes suffering can feel baffling.

Addiction changes brain structure, specifically in areas controlling reward, stress, and self-control.

Psychology classifies addiction as a mental illness; understanding this reduces shame and promotes treatment.

If someone continues to use a drug or keeps engaging in some kind of risky behavior after losing relationships, health, and/or employment, or getting in legal trouble, it can feel baffling. We wonder: If it’s causing pain and suffering in their life, why don't they simply stop doing it? Many people will look at the situation and think the person really ought to make more of an effort—that addiction reflects a person’s weak character or that they simply aren’t adept at making good choices.

But modern psychology and neuroscience understand addiction differently and have come to classify it as a mental disorder. This is because brain imaging shows that, over time, addiction actually changes brain structure and function, specifically in areas controlling reward, stress, and self-control. In other words, changes in the brain and body turn voluntary drug use or........

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