Whether it’s junk food, our phones, alcohol or even love, most of us are addicted to something. “There is a lot of stigma around the word ‘addiction’, but we all use things to change the way we feel,” Talitha Fosh, author of the new book tells me. Addiction exists on a spectrum, and there are (obviously) varying degrees of severity, but Fosh’s book serves as a good manual for those seeking to understand the mechanics behind the disease.
Not only does it explore the reasons we get addicted, it offers useful advice on how to work on the problem, communicated in a relatable and digestible way. It’s also a helpful read for anyone who has a loved one who struggles with addiction. Fosh is well placed to write it, having been dependent on and cocaine at age 22, suffered from an eating disorder and eventually gone into treatment.
(When she was there, she made a longtime friend in the model , who has been candid about her own struggles with addiction, via her mental health platform, Gurls Talk. Aboah wrote the foreword to the book.) A decade on Fosh is a qualified therapist, working with others to help overcome their problems, and hopes to change the way we look at addiction in society – to acknowledge that it’s a disease, not a choice.
“People find it really difficult to understand that it’s not about willpower,” she says. “Of course there is an element of responsibility when we pick up that first drink, log onto social media or take a drug, but once we have.
