The Disease of Addiction: A Twenty-First Century Understanding and Beyond

Joseph Caravella, MA LADC currently practices as an addiction therapist for the Hazelden Betty Ford Foundation at their campus 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 fundamentals 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. Foreword by the author: I have been formally studying addiction since 2011 while also walking a personal path of recovery that began in 2008. Even after countless hours of self-study, attending several thousand twelve-step meetings, graduate school, and years spent professionally treating the illness, my experience shows that this disease is not the easiest subject to grasp. But knowledge truly is power! And after studying the best textbooks and reports on the neurobiology of addiction, I believe the information in them is sound and of the utmost importance. That said, I also think the packaging and delivery of the education should be more accessible to addicted people, their families, and friends, or anyone curious to learn more about the disease.I have had the privilege of lecturing on the disease of addiction to large treatment populations for years. Inspired by requests for written material beyond my lectures and by my personal mission to improve addiction education, this book is a meditation on the evolutionary perspective of chemical use, the origins of the Alcoholics Anonymous program, our present understanding of the neurobiology of addiction, and how the twelve-step solution is well supported by scientific evidence. I also describe a correlation between physiological stress response(s) and a spirituality-based approach to recovery in a manner that I haven't seen in the literature. In this book, I'm specifically speaking to the person unsure about addiction as a disease but also pained by the consequences of their chemical use. To me, this person is the newcomer to recovery, and they are the most important person about whom I should be concerned when discussing addiction and recovery.Special thanks to my clients, family, teachers, guides, mentors, colleagues, bosses, and especially my wife for making this possible. I was taught that I can only keep what peace and love I have by freely giving it away.In part, this is my love to you.