The CURE

Breaking bad habits: Mindful addiction recovery

We find out how mindfulness is being used to treat a wide range of addictions.

Addiction is defined as a harmful relationship with a substance or behaviour.

It is commonly associated with smoking, alcohol and drugs. But as a condition it’s difficult to understand.

Do we treat it as a neurological disorder? Or is it a personality trait? And how can we best overcome it, when current treatments for addiction have a relapse rate of about 70 percent?

Dr Farrah Jarral travels to the University of Massachusetts to meet a psychiatrist who is using the power of the mind to overcome addiction.