Wow what an excellent post! I have a question that I wonder if you would be able to provide insight on. Personally I tend to slip in and out of addictions. What I mean is that I will become addicted to something for a period of time and then abruptly decide I'm done with it.
The two best examples I can give are marijuana and cigarettes. Now marijuana makes sense to me as it is mostly a psychological addiction. So it stands to reason that once an individual decides that he/she no longer wants to consume marijuana, he or she should be able to abstain without experiencing too many withdrawal symptoms. The cigarettes confused me though. I started smoking in college. Not a heavy habit, but enough to be considered an addiction. fast forward 4-5 years and my ex asked me to stop smoking so we could start a family. I was able to stop without much of an issue. Picked up the habit again about 5 years later. Continued the habit for about 6-7 years. Then again stopped recently without a lot of issues. I'm wondering if I fall into the Rational Choice Model of Addiction. The issue is that I have no idea in what way it was a rational choice. Anyway I'm rambling, once again, excellent post!