i think that a will never end ediction. So people will be writing books about it a hundred years from now, maybe under the same name,. But i think the notion that we could somehow escape from the cycles of history has worked against us in the process of responding to adiction. The process of humility is not just a caution to say, we don't know exactly what we're doing. It gives us something to do to day, which is to refrain from overly simplistic solutions and look for ways of personalizing care.
Carl Erik Fisher is a psychiatrist, bioethicist and recovering alcoholic who has spent years tracing the history of addiction. His new book is The Urge: Our History of Addiction, a sweeping study of the issue and an urgent call for a more expansive, nuanced and compassionate view of one of society's most difficult challenges. In conversation with Carl is physicist, oceanographer and science presenter, Helen Czerski.
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