In the realm of addiction treatment, we often focus exclusively on stopping the harmful behavior. We create programs centered on abstinence, willpower, and avoiding triggers. But what if we’ve been looking at addiction through the wrong lens entirely? Like searching for water in a barren landscape when a peaceful river of understanding lies just beyond our current perspective.
Dr. Gabor Maté offers a profound perspective that challenges our traditional understanding: “If you want to understand addiction, you can’t look at what’s wrong with the addiction; you have to look at what’s right about it.”
This counterintuitive approach invites us to ask different questions. Instead of asking, “How do we stop this behavior?” we might ask, “What need is this behavior fulfilling?” It’s as though we’re journeying through a peace valley—a place where judgment recedes and curiosity flourishes.
The Function Behind the Dysfunction
Addiction serves a purpose. For the person struggling, substances or behaviors provide something essential that’s otherwise missing from their lives. As Maté explains, “What addicts get is relief from pain, what they get is a sense of peace, a sense of control, a sense of calmness, very, very temporarily.”
These aren’t trivial benefits. Peace, control, and calm are fundamental human needs—like finding a peace valley in the midst of an emotional storm. When we recognize that addiction is actually an attempt at self-medication—however misguided—we begin to see the person behind the behavior with greater compassion.
Shifting the Question
The real paradigm shift happens when we change our fundamental question. Rather than asking, “Why the addiction?” we should be asking, “Why the pain?” This is the entrance to the peace valley of recovery—looking beyond symptoms to source.
This reframing acknowledges that substances like “heroin, morphine, codeine, cocaine, alcohol—these are all painkillers. In one way or another, they all soothe pain.”
But what kind of pain drives people toward these temporary solutions? What drives them away from the peace valley of emotional wellbeing they truly seek?
The Roots of Addiction
Research increasingly suggests that trauma lies at the heart of most addictions. Adverse childhood experiences, neglect, abuse, and profound loss create wounds that many people carry silently for decades. When conventional coping mechanisms fail, substances or behaviors that provide immediate relief become incredibly attractive—like a mirage of a peace valley in a desert of despair.
For someone whose nervous system has been shaped by trauma, addiction isn’t a moral failing but an adaptive response—a way to regulate an otherwise intolerable emotional state.
A More Compassionate Approach
When we understand addiction through this lens, our approach to treatment necessarily changes. Instead of focusing exclusively on stopping the behavior, we need to address the underlying pain and help individuals find their own peace valley of healing:
- Creating safety first—establishing a peace valley shelter from judgment
- Building healthy connections to replace isolation
- Developing alternative coping skills for emotional regulation
- Processing and integrating traumatic experiences
- Cultivating self-compassion to counter shame—a true peace valley practice
Moving Forward
This perspective doesn’t excuse harmful behaviors or deny the real damage addiction causes. Rather, it provides a more complete picture that honors the complexity of human experience. Like looking across a peace valley and seeing both the shadows and the light that creates them.
By understanding that addiction begins as an attempt to solve a problem—not create one—we can develop more effective, compassionate approaches to healing. We can see beyond the behavior to the person underneath who is simply trying, however maladaptively, to find their peace valley—a place of respite from internal turmoil.
The question “Why the pain?” opens doors that “Why the addiction?” never could. It invites us into a deeper understanding of ourselves and others, and ultimately, toward more effective paths to healing—guiding us collectively toward that peace valley where recovery becomes not just possible, but sustainable.
