{"id":635,"date":"2025-11-22T16:17:56","date_gmt":"2025-11-22T13:17:56","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/test.netosdimitris.gr\/2025\/11\/22\/how-addiction-changes-our-relationship-with-ourselves\/"},"modified":"2026-05-11T10:46:18","modified_gmt":"2026-05-11T07:46:18","slug":"how-addiction-changes-our-relationship-with-ourselves","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/netosdimitris.gr\/en\/how-addiction-changes-our-relationship-with-ourselves\/","title":{"rendered":"How Addiction Changes Our Relationship with Ourselves"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Nowadays, addiction is often presented as a pathology that “resides” within the individual. As a flaw in character, a biological or psychological defect, that makes a person “vulnerable,” “defective,” “inadequate.” <\/p>\n\n

This narrative, however “scientific” it may seem, rarely helps. More often, it causes harm. <\/p>\n\n

Because every time we define addiction exclusively as a disease, the person begins to see themselves only through the prism of this definition. Identity shrinks. The “I” becomes: “I who am problematic,” “I who have something wrong inside me,” “I who probably won’t change.” <\/p>\n\n

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However, modern research shows something different: addiction is not an identity. It is a process of learning, attachment, and emotion regulation. It is a translation of pain into behavior. It is biology and circumstance seeking balance. <\/p>\n\n

And this is the crucial distinction: addiction is not “me.” It is a strategy, often inadequate, painful, but a strategy nonetheless. Something that perhaps once helped. Something that can be transformed today. <\/p>\n\n

The pathologizing narrative, however, does not allow for this. It traps the person in a label. It forces them to see themselves through a narrow medical lens, as if all dimensions of their life\u2014social, relationships, traumas, and anxieties\u2014have no place in what they are experiencing. <\/p>\n\n

In reality, addiction is a dialogue between the person and their environment. Something shaped by biology, life history, social contexts, cultural messages, and above all, relationships. <\/p>\n\n

And this dialogue often takes the form of an internal voice. A voice that is often confused with personal identity: <\/p>\n\n

“I can’t cope without it.”<\/p>\n\n

“I need something to calm down.”<\/p>\n\n

“This is just how I am.”<\/p>\n\n

But this voice is not you. It is a habit that became a survival mechanism. It is the psyche trying to regulate itself with whatever it found. It is biology seeking balance. It is the nervous system that has learned a path and repeats it. <\/p>\n\n

The scientific turning point is here: whenever someone begins to see that “addiction is something I have, it is not something I am,” it creates space for change.<\/p>\n\n

Because I don’t need to change myself, only the relationship I have with what once served me.<\/p>\n\n

And so, identity reopens. The person becomes a subject again, not a symptom. <\/p>\n\n

They rediscover the right not to be defined by need, impulse, or use.<\/p>\n\n

To see themselves with a phrase that research confirms and the soul needs:<\/p>\n\n

“I am not my addiction. Addiction is a story that can be rewritten.”<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Nowadays, addiction is often presented as a pathology that “resides” within the individual. As a flaw in character, a biological or psychological defect, that makes a person “vulnerable,” “defective,” “inadequate.” This narrative, however “scientific” it may seem, rarely helps. More often, it causes harm. Because every time we define addiction exclusively as a disease, the […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":634,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[24],"tags":[25,28],"class_list":["post-635","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-articles","tag-addiction","tag-narrative-therapy"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/netosdimitris.gr\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/635","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/netosdimitris.gr\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/netosdimitris.gr\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/netosdimitris.gr\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/netosdimitris.gr\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=635"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/netosdimitris.gr\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/635\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":636,"href":"https:\/\/netosdimitris.gr\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/635\/revisions\/636"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/netosdimitris.gr\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/634"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/netosdimitris.gr\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=635"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/netosdimitris.gr\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=635"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/netosdimitris.gr\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=635"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}