Addiction stays strong because of the effort it takes to *fight* the urge, not just the urge itself.
March 20, 2026
Original Paper
Suppression, Dissociation, and Withdrawal: An Integrative Model of Addiction Maintenance
SSRN · 6432581
The Takeaway
It suggests that the effort spent trying *not* to use creates a mental split that makes the addictive behavior feel 'uncontrollable.' This explains why people relapse years after physical withdrawal ends and why behavioral addictions (like gambling) cause physical-like symptoms.
From the abstract
Current models of addiction fail to provide a unified explanation for three persistent anomalies: (1) relapse after years of sustained abstinence when no physiological dependence remains, (2) withdrawal symptoms in behavioral addictions where no exogenous chemical agent is involved, and (3) the efficacy of mutually contradictory therapeutic approaches. The present paper proposes an integrative model in which the maintenance of addiction is driven not by the impulse to use, but by its suppression