Clementine Morrigan

Clementine Morrigan

Share this post

Clementine Morrigan
Clementine Morrigan
The role of agency in addiction
Copy link
Facebook
Email
Notes
More

The role of agency in addiction

Clementine Morrigan's avatar
Clementine Morrigan
Jun 19, 2023
∙ Paid
32

Share this post

Clementine Morrigan
Clementine Morrigan
The role of agency in addiction
Copy link
Facebook
Email
Notes
More
4
3
Share

Lance Dodes has a different understanding of addiction than the one I learned about in AA. Lance Dodes believes that addiction is a response to the overwhelming feeling of helpless rage.

According to Lance, addicts are people who learned at a certain point that intervening on their own behalf was ineffective or even dangerous. They learned to repress their agency. Repeated repression of agency leads to an overwhelming feeling of being trapped and unable to change your circumstances. This leads to overwhelming rage but no way to release or resolve the rage. For Lance, the addictive action is a symbolic reclaiming of agency. The addict gives themself permission to do something they know will make them feel temporarily better. The decision to act on their own behalf, to make a choice of their own, brings them relief.

Keep reading with a 7-day free trial

Subscribe to Clementine Morrigan to keep reading this post and get 7 days of free access to the full post archives.

Already a paid subscriber? Sign in
© 2025 Clementine Morrigan
Privacy ∙ Terms ∙ Collection notice
Start writingGet the app
Substack is the home for great culture

Share

Copy link
Facebook
Email
Notes
More