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Maia overcame her addiction.  Because she’s an inquisitive young woman, she wanted to find out if addiction is a disease, a moral weakness, a disorder or a compulsive behavior.  She researched the topic, and came up with a smart and thoughtful perspective.

She explains that genetics prove certain people are more prone to addiction. Particularly those with other mental illnesses, like depression, a condition she has.  Maia also determined that treatment for addiction is as effective as treatment for other chronic diseases that involve lifestyle change, such as diabetes and asthma.

But recovery programs often use a different approach. They insist addicts make amends to those they have wronged. They encourage the recovering addict to surrender to a higher power, and to pray.

Maia says,  “In my own experience, I stopped using when addiction threatened my core values. “

Can core values, prayer, and forgiveness, be the antidote to addiction? This is what a former heroin addict attributes to her sobriety. Read more about it in Maia Szalavitzin’s Washington Post article:  “So, What Made Me an Addict?” Then pass it on to someone you know, who would benefit from truly understanding addiction.

READ MORE from the full article by Maia Szalavitzin

- Susan Diamond

Susan Diamond is founder of Prayables.com and publisher of Personal Peace: Prayers for Women of All Faiths.

Rejuvenation

Awake to a damp, cloudy morn;
rain imminent.
Take a breath of thick, heavy air.
I don't ask for sunshine,
just a bright perspective of this day.
The rains pour down.
Rains that cleanse the mind, the air;
rains that nourish every living thing.
Including me.

- Patricia Hill

"DOES PRAYER HAVE A PLACE IN OVERCOMING ADDICTION?"