Thanks for your answer!
Well, I'm not a fan of psychology as a science. Too much generalisation applied to a subject with too much standard deviation, in my opinion. Even so, I still admit that some behavioural theories make sense, among them, Skinner's operant conditioning. So, while I agree with your statement that an addict indulges in his addiction to quell the negative response the body gives to the absence of the stimulus (commonly, withdrawal) there's also a positive reinforcement in most of the addictions, the reason the addict fell into it in the first place, i.e. an alcoholic (before becoming one) didn't start drinking because he misses the boost of the alcohol but because it did gave them a boost of happiness of some sort.
I'm not saying the negative reinforcements don't play a big part in the addiction cycle, I'm just saying they are not all what's into it. It's somewhat more complex. Not necessarily hard, as you say, but not easy for everyone either. Even if the structure of the addiction can be explained with the same big-monster/small-monster/fear analogy, internally they are different for everyone. Not every addiction can be cured by cutting the stimuli 'cold turkey' (I've always thought this is a really weird expression btw), the phenomenon is physical and sometimes the body needs time to adapt to changes.
Again, I agree with most of what you say, I'm just not too much into the whole generalisation and absolute affirmations.
About the literature, I had a bunch of material pertaining drug addiction specifically, but I lost it along with most of my data last week * tears flow *. Still, for addiction as a subject there's a lot to read on the internet, some really interesting, some... eh... jalados por los pelos (?) I cant't find an adequate translation for that now... not-so-plausible, or something like that. Anyway, some of it is really worth it, some not. I'm sure you'll spot which one is which from afar.
Also, congratulations for beating your addiction! Even if it was easy for you :)
No, thank you Isa for your input. And thanks for the congrats. It's an odd feeling to suddenly be free of multiple life-long addictions.
The positive affirmations of smoking and drinking like "it gives me a boost," "it relaxes me," "I enjoy the taste," are the brainwashing.
As far as cold turkey or dropping it completely, there is a lot of false information out there that the body "needs" time to adjust. I can't say that I know of any drug where this is the case. Cigarettes and alcohol are not. Allen Carr claims that heroine addicts that he's helped have dropped the habit cold turkey and did not report any actual "pain" during their withdrawal period, just stress.
I have found extremely little on the internet that I find interesting or plausible on addiction.