ABSTRACT
Phenomenology is a practice, whether as research or therapy, that grounds its ethic in the lived experience of the practitioner. Thus it is the lived experience of both the practitioner and the subject of the practice that is valued as the bedrock of knowledge. As such this practice is critical of metaphysical entities that are useful but do not strictly exist. Addiction does not strictly exist. It is a term that describes a range of experiences, but it has the potential of masking the very phenomena it seeks to illuminate. So, caution needs to be exercised with language, notions, theories, and sedimented practices (more in Chapter Eight).
