{"title":"Elias Dakwar","description":"\u003cp\u003eDelve into the thought-provoking world of Elias Dakwar, where faith, philosophy, and personal journeys intertwine. Explore his unique perspective on spirituality and self-discovery. Start your exploration here.\u003c\/p\u003e","products":[{"product_id":"captive-imagination-book-elias-dakwar-9780241655351","title":"The Captive Imagination","description":"'In rich and arresting prose, and with radical originality, Dakwar expands initial, pragmatic insights about addiction into a far-reaching examination of authenticity, exploring how we define a happy life, a good life, a valid life.' - Andrew Solomon, author of The Noonday Demon      A deeply humane and revolutionary new framework for understanding and treating addiction  What causes addiction, and how should we treat it? Today it is understood primarily as a brain disease, yet in this bold reimagining of addiction, pioneering psychiatrist Elias Dakwar argues that this is false. It fails to explain, among other things, why many people can enjoy drugs without developing a dependency on them. Despite decades of neuroscientific research, we aren’t much closer to truly understanding the nature of addiction, nor to addressing it effectively.   In The Captive Imagination, Dakwar argues that addiction is an existential challenge, requiring a more philosophical and multidisciplinary approach, as well as a lens through which we can better understand ourselves. Addiction stems from our desire for happiness: whether addicts or not, we all struggle against meaninglessness, and resort to false solutions to our despair. Dakwar also shows how our individual capacity for self-delusion relates to our collective self-inflicted crises, from environmental destruction to social injustice.   Drawing on vivid stories of his own patients, path-breaking research, and decades of clinical experience, The Captive Imagination offers a novel framework for understanding and overcoming addiction, as well as human suffering more generally.","brand":"WoB","offers":[{"title":"GB \/ NEW \/ GARDNERS","offer_id":49753685983505,"sku":"NGR9780241655351","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":false},{"title":"GB \/ LIKE_NEW \/ INTERNAL","offer_id":49760725106961,"sku":"GOR013778436","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true},{"title":"GB \/ VERY_GOOD \/ INTERNAL","offer_id":50588189163793,"sku":"GOR014007264","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true},{"title":"GB \/ NEW \/ INGRAM","offer_id":52330782851345,"sku":"NLS9780241655351","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":false}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0784\/4072\/6801\/files\/0241655358.jpg?v=1751005666"},{"product_id":"captive-imagination-book-elias-dakwar-9780063340480","title":"The Captive Imagination","description":"\u003cp\u003eA USA TODAY BESTSELLER!\u003c\/p\u003e \u003cp\u003eA profound, humane, and revolutionary new framework for understanding and addressing addiction.\u003c\/p\u003e \u003cp\u003eAddiction has been called a moral failing, a social problem, a spiritual crisis, a behavioral disorder, and a brain disease. It has also been called a class issue, a supply problem, a problem of learning, a memory disorder, and a result of trauma. And some propose that addiction is neither a disease nor a problem, but a transgressive expression of freedom, a maligned sub-culture, a therapeutic relationship. Even the term 'addiction' is open to question. There are few human phenomena so elusive and intractable; after decades of neuroscientific research, we aren't much closer to understanding addiction, nor to addressing it effectively.\u003c\/p\u003e \u003cp\u003eThis profusion of interpretations, meanings, and models reflects a hidden truth about addiction: that it is profusely generative of meaning itself. In this bold reimagining, pioneering psychiatrist Elias Dakwar examines addiction as a sustained creative act--and specifically as a process of personal world-building, complete with its own rituals, systems of value, modes of suffering, and sources of support. In this regard, addiction is something we all do. But there is a crucial difference. In the case of those of us suffering from addiction explicitly, this meaningful world keeps us in clear captivity, worsening the suffering and confusion we hoped it would console. And we remain stuck because we have trouble imagining it differently.\u003c\/p\u003e \u003cp\u003eDrawing on vivid stories of his own patients, path-breaking research with meditation, psychotherapy, and psychedelics\/hallucinogens, and decades of clinical experience, Dakwar explores this captivity at the heart of our addictions, and shows how we might move beyond its bounds to reclaim our freedom. He also relates addiction to our collective self-inflicted crises, from environmental destruction to militarism to social injustice, rendering this often stigmatized condition relevant to all of us. With fluid, rich, and often startling prose, The Captive Imagination offers a novel path for better understanding and overcoming addiction, as well as human suffering more generally.\u003c\/p\u003e \u003cp\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e \u003cp\u003eDakwar's revolutionary framework challenges conventional thinking on mental health and offers:\u003c\/p\u003e \u003cp\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e \u003cul\u003e \u003cli\u003e\n\u003cb\u003eA Critique of the Brain Disease Model:\u003c\/b\u003e Why decades of neuroscientific research have failed to explain addiction, and why we must look beyond seeing it as a simple disease.\u003c\/li\u003e \u003cli\u003e\n\u003cb\u003eAddiction as World-Building:\u003c\/b\u003e Explore the book's central thesis--that addiction is a creative act, a system of meaning we build to console our suffering, only to find ourselves captive within it.\u003c\/li\u003e \u003cli\u003e\n\u003cb\u003ePsychedelics, Meditation, and Psychotherapy:\u003c\/b\u003e An inside look at the author's path-breaking clinical research into how these modalities can disrupt cycles of suffering and help us reclaim our freedom.\u003c\/li\u003e \u003cli\u003e\n\u003cb\u003eThe Philosophy of Mind and Suffering:\u003c\/b\u003e A profound philosophical inquiry into the nature of consciousness, imagination, and the fictions we inhabit that shape our reality.\u003c\/li\u003e \u003c\/ul\u003e","brand":"WoB","offers":[{"title":"US \/ GOOD \/ SBYB","offer_id":50823101251857,"sku":"CIN0063340488G","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":false},{"title":"US \/ NEW \/ INGRAM","offer_id":50983248691473,"sku":"NIN9780063340480","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true},{"title":"US \/ VERY_GOOD \/ SBYB","offer_id":52862981210385,"sku":"CIN0063340488VG","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0784\/4072\/6801\/files\/0063340488.jpg?v=1751226899"},{"product_id":"captive-imagination-book-elias-dakwar-9781802063769","title":"The Captive Imagination","description":"In The Captive Imagination, Dakwar argues that addiction is an existential challenge, requiring a more philosophical and multidisciplinary approach, as well as a lens through which we can better understand ourselves.","brand":"WoB","offers":[{"title":"- \/ - \/ -","offer_id":51632552083729,"sku":"","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true},{"title":"GB \/ NEW \/ GARDNERS","offer_id":51632552247569,"sku":"NGR9781802063769","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true},{"title":"GB \/ LIKE_NEW \/ INTERNAL","offer_id":51917804077329,"sku":"GOR014461330","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":false},{"title":"GB \/ VERY_GOOD \/ INTERNAL","offer_id":52720209723665,"sku":"GOR014597371","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":false}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0784\/4072\/6801\/files\/1802063765.jpg?v=1769688743"}],"url":"https:\/\/www.worldofbooks.com\/collections\/author-books-by-elias-dakwar.oembed","provider":"World of Books ","version":"1.0","type":"link"}