Author says self-addiction has become an epidemic
DENVER, CO, September 09, 2020 /Neptune100/ — According to the American Addiction Centers, drug abuse and addiction cost American society more than $740 billion annually in lost workplace productivity, healthcare expenses, and crime-related costs. Best-selling author and Clinical Psychologist, Dr. Larry Crabb, believes he has pinpointed the common root of all addictions and describes his discovery in his new book “Waiting for Heaven: Freedom from the Incurable Addiction to Self.”
“There is a rarely recognized addiction operating covertly, to at least some degree, in virtually every human being,” says Crabb. “Each one of us has arrived in this world with a stubborn commitment to our own felt well-being. We then live addicted to arranging for satisfaction of whatever longings we can neither deny nor smother. We are a society of self-addicted people, and it has become an epidemic.”
Crabb says self-addiction leads to what he says is an underlying facet of the breakdown of a society.
“Our self-protection to keep from hurting, our self-procurement angling to enhance our self-esteem through others, and our self-preservation techniques plant the seeds of quarrels, fights and jealousies which causes relational poverty in families, communities, and nations. When we turn our relational longings towards something higher than ourselves, namely God, we can then learn to fully love our fellow man.”
Crabb says he knows his hypothesis is not an easy one for most people to swallow, and he admits that while writing the book he struggled with the concept himself.
“There was an uncomfortable hesitation in me,” says Crabb, “The choice to wait is easy to state but hard to make. Waiting becomes more difficult as we get weary with life’s struggles, disappointments, and setbacks. I don’t believe there is any path to walk that completely eliminates the struggle to resist temptation or that guarantees no further failure. But I have seen people who strive to live godly lives are less likely to stay under the control of addictions.”
About Dr. Larry Crabb:
Dr. Larry Crabb has authored over 25 books and is the founder of NewWay Ministries and co-founder of Larger Story. He earned his PhD in Clinical Psychology and has been a Distinguished Scholar in Residence at Colorado Christian University for 24 years. For more information visit www.largerstory.com.
