The book offers inspiration and hope for those who desire to explore the mystery of who and what they are and examines the "processes of attachment" that lead to addiction. It describes the relationship between addiction and spiritual awareness including the various addictions to alcohol, drugs, work, sex, performance, responsibility, and intimacy.

+1 star for the syncreticism and decent literary quotations

the author mistakes addiction for habit, and in doing so generalizes the notion of addiction to the point where it has no clinical or therapeutic significance, also trivializing the struggles of those who DO face unique struggles with the disease of addiction

occasionally he throws out some allegedly scientific or evidence-based assertion (without citation or reference) which I recognized (and verified) to b quite false. his chapter on neurology is laughably bad, anthropomorphizing the individual neurons and missing the neurological forest for the trees

on top of all of this, he's a bit pretentious, which would b find if his overconfidence didn't result in outlandish claims and assertions alongside more reasonable ones

if u wanna read some cool philosophical and spiritual quotes and concepts abt desire and grace and etc, w some kinda inaccurate pop-science thrown in, then ya u might enjoy this. but if u want any insight into how addiction operates as a unique neurological disease and behavioral process, if u want any insight into the etiology or treatment for addiction, its varieties and variations, u will b quite disappointed ( )

The overused but still useful word “addiction” comes from the 16th century Latin noun addictio, which means “a giving over or surrender.” Not the good surrender, but the bad one, a giving over to something or someone that will then control me and eventually ruin me.

We think of addicts as being on the way to ruin. They might be very dangerous, and certainly not in control of themselves. They are … not us. We are not addicts; someone else is.

Some “addictions” seem good; can’t you be “addicted” to God? Can’t you feel compelled to do good works and bring blessing to the people in your life?

God loves us, but God hates our addictions. God loves me the sinner, but God hates the sin. And addiction is certainly sin.

Some of us, although certainly not me, have “addictive personalities.” They (not me, mind you) are weak and prone to that “giving over” to alcohol, or stress, or video games, or pornography, or gossip, or some other awful thing. We should watch out for them.

These questionable assertions about addiction are addressed by Dr. Gerald May in this bestselling book. It’s been republished with a new introduction and two short articles published a few years after the book was originally published in 1988. Gerald May was a distinguished psychiatrist who worked and taught and wrote as a faculty member of the Shalem School of Spiritual Direction for 30 plus years before he died of cancer in 2005.

Dr. May is a poet and a philosopher. He is a Christian and sometimes sounds like a mystic. At the same time he is precise in his understanding and description of the mental and physical nature of addiction. Although this book was written just as the river of new information about how the brain works began to really flow, it describes much more of the physical nature of attachment and addiction than most of us know, and in a way that is both detailed and non-technical.

Actually, most of us don’t have a clue about addiction, because we’ve heard so much on TV and read so many flash-in-the-pan stories of both truth and fiction. This kind of non-helpful “information” barrage makes us think we know, when we don’t.

Some of my best friends are addicts. But, Gerald May makes it clear, that’s not surprising. I’m an addict too. So is he. Early in the book May compiles a list of attraction addictions (what we want) and aversion addictions (what we avoid). He says in one of his many charming personal asides, “If it is any consolation, I am addicted to at least fourteen of the listed items, and I could add several others if I wanted to be completely candid. Which I do not.”

If you find time to read this book (as I did not … even as a Christian counselor, even as one who works regularly with folks in great pain because of their addictions, even though I had heard over and over for years how good a book this was … until I was assigned it as required reading for a class), you will discover the seamy side of yourself. Rather, you’ll have to acknowledge the seamy side of yourself that you probably already know all too well.

And, thank God, you will also discover the glorious and unconditioned nature of God’s grace for you. Seamy side and all.

Take it or leave it.
( )

May does a superb job of describing our addictive nature and issues the hard challenge of living in the spacious moments once we've stopped. ( )

Though I was stretched by some Dr. May's theology, I learned a great deal about addiction from him. Truly knowledgeable in both areas of addiction and spirituality, May's writing has been a resource for many working with those in addiction or struggling with their own (however, I must say that May makes a strong case that we all struggle with addiction). ( )