Addiction is something that is, ultimately, born from trying to fill a hole in your life with a substance or behavior that is destructive and harmful to you. You cannot address addiction without addressing whatever trauma or neglect or lonliness that caused the addict to develop their addiction. A lot of times addicts themselves don't really understand that is what is happening until they are in recovery and get therapy and treatment.
That's why prohibition doesn't work. It does not address the root cause of the destructive behavior, and that issue will just manifest itself in a different way, often with addiction to a different substance/behavior, in an attempt to fill that void/address that pain.
Also a lot of addictive behaviors are formed early in life, while the brain is still developing, and thus the addiction becomes intertwined with the development and thus harder to stop.
No one wants to be an addict. Being an addict makes you feel disgusting, weak, shameful, guilty, and worthless. What they want is a reprieve from the pain, or the illusion of being wanted to ease the pangs of lonliness, or a thrill to distract from their crippling depression.
That's why prohibition doesn't work. It does not address the root cause of the destructive behavior, and that issue will just manifest itself in a different way, often with addiction to a different substance/behavior, in an attempt to fill that void/address that pain.
Also a lot of addictive behaviors are formed early in life, while the brain is still developing, and thus the addiction becomes intertwined with the development and thus harder to stop.
No one wants to be an addict. Being an addict makes you feel disgusting, weak, shameful, guilty, and worthless. What they want is a reprieve from the pain, or the illusion of being wanted to ease the pangs of lonliness, or a thrill to distract from their crippling depression.