The Fix (book)

The Fix

1st edition (Collins)
Author	Damian Thompson
Country	United Kingdom
Genre	Social sciences
Publisher	Collins
Publication date	24 May 2012 (UK) (hardcover) 13 Jan 2013 (UK) (paperback)
Pages	352
ISBN
Preceded by	Counterknowledge

The Fix: How Addiction Is Invading our Lives and Taking Over Your World is a non-fiction book by the British writer and journalist Damian Thompson in which Thompson examines addiction and how it is being harboured in society. His fourth book, it was published in May 2012 by Collins. Shortly after release, its core contention that addiction is not a pathological disorder provoked controversy.

In addition to his research, the book is informed by Thompson's experience as a former alcoholic and his participation in the Alcoholics Anonymous Twelve-Step sobriety program. He rejects the brain disease theory of addiction (an example of which is disease theory of alcoholism), arguing that addiction is instead a voluntary and reversible behavioural disorder based on the brain's reward system, namely the mesolimbic pathway. Thompson argues that addiction is universally being fostered by technology and the social environment for commercial purposes, pointing to sugar addiction from sugar-rich foods such as cupcakes, addictions to pornography, video games, shopping, and drugs such as alcohol, caffeine; illegal drugs such as cocaine and heroin, and controlled medical drugs — such as zopiclone — obtained via prescription or without one from an online pharmacy. He believes that the boundaries between everyday addictions and less socially acceptable ones are becoming increasingly blurred, and also perceives an overlap between them, citing evidence that sugar triggers "the brain's natural opioids," and that the brain can become addicted to them in the same way that it does to morphine or heroin.