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Why We Escape
Paperback
Biographies GeneralGeneral PsychologySelf-Help
Publisher Price: $16.99
ISBN13: 9781911812029
Publisher: Inner Recovery Press
Published: Oct 13 2026
Pages: 184
Weight: 0.56
Height: 0.42 Width: 6.00 Depth: 9.00
Language: English
Why do we escape from ourselves?
Why do people turn to alcohol, drugs, pornography, gambling, food, work, relationships, screens or other compulsive behaviours when life becomes painful or overwhelming?
Why We Escape explores addiction with compassion and psychological depth. Rather than reducing addiction to bad choices or weakness, John Graham looks beneath the surface to the shame, trauma, emotional pain, loneliness and inner conflict that can drive the search for relief.
Drawing on lived experience, recovery, counselling and psychotherapy, the book explores how addictive behaviours can develop as attempts to change difficult internal states - to quieten anxiety, soften shame, escape emotional pain, feel more confident, find connection or simply get through the day.
The book considers themes including:
- addiction as an attempt to regulate emotional distress
- shame, trauma and self-worth
- relief, reward and the self-medication process
- alcohol and drug dependence
- gambling and behavioural addictions
- pornography and compulsive sexual behaviour
- gaming, social media and digital escape
- attachment, loneliness and the need for connection
- inner conflict and parts-based understanding
- Twelve Step recovery
- relapse and the return to familiar coping strategies
- therapy, recovery and the development of a more meaningful life
Throughout the book, the emphasis is on understanding what the addictive behaviour is doing for the person.
The central question becomes not only:
What are you addicted to?
but also:
What does the addiction do for you?
Understanding this does not remove personal responsibility. It gives responsibility somewhere useful to begin.
Written for people in recovery, family members, sponsors and sponsees, counsellors, psychotherapists, addiction professionals and anyone interested in why human beings seek escape, Why We Escape offers a compassionate and accessible exploration of addiction, inner pain and the search for relief.
Recovery is not only about stopping the escape. It is also about creating a life we no longer need to escape from.
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