ABSTRACT
Lewis offers a learning model to replace the disease model of addiction, an approach that views the body as adaptive and addictive behaviours as ways to survive when all else fails. This chapter traces the origins and development of Lewis’ model and shows how the advent of understanding how the brain can change support this. In the 1990s, the understanding of neuroplasticity replaced the notion that brain cells do not change, and with this, many ideas about human behaviour and addiction shifted as well. A clinical example is offered as an illustration of how to view addiction processes through this new lens to show how the concept of recovery requires updating.
