This piece explores psychiatry, science, and lived experience. It is not medical advice, and it cannot replace care tailored to an individual person. If nicotine were a person, it would be the charming criminal your friends warned you about. The one who shows up at midnight, promises adventure, steals your wallet, your sleep, and your...

Imagine your brain is like a chill, well-balanced party. Everyone’s doing their thing—dopamine’s out there passing around snacks of motivation and pleasure—basically the brain’s hype man, making sure you care about stuff, want stuff, and get up off the couch to go after stuff. In addiction, dopamine gets completely hijacked. Substances and behaviors that trigger...