Frequently the addiction is not the brain trying to avoid pain. Sometimes it is a socially acceptable substance with addictive chemical properties.
A friend of mine is an alcoholic who, after a DUI, went on a massive downward spiral. He didn't start drinking because of pain, he started drinking because this is Nebraska, and drinking is a gigantic part of social interaction in Nebraska. All the things that are wrong with his life are directly caused by his addiction, and so he drinks because of the pain/depression, and the problems keep coming.
So, in his case, the only way to take care of the real cause of the addiction is to stop the addiction. This game may be something that can help with it.
Being addicted to a substance isn't something you can just wish away, or meditate away. Acting like it's just a matter of self control is borderline disrespectful of the effect a substance dependency can have on a person.
In my case personally, I've been on prescription Adderall for years. I went cold-turkey once to reset my tolerance and drop from 25mg to 5mg; I can assure you that the physical and mental withdrawal symptoms are NOT something you can just meditate away. Amphetamine withdrawal was a goddamn nightmare made flesh, and I was on a relatively small pharmaceutical dose. Alcohol withdrawal is apparently less immediately bad, but drastically more insidious, and there are so many social structures in the world that encourage drinking that quitting completely is astoundingly hard.
I'm not saying meditation can't help, or that it didn't work for you, but I am saying it's not a magic bullet, and definitely won't work for everyone. This game is just a tool that some people can use to help themselves.
A friend of mine is an alcoholic who, after a DUI, went on a massive downward spiral. He didn't start drinking because of pain, he started drinking because this is Nebraska, and drinking is a gigantic part of social interaction in Nebraska. All the things that are wrong with his life are directly caused by his addiction, and so he drinks because of the pain/depression, and the problems keep coming.
So, in his case, the only way to take care of the real cause of the addiction is to stop the addiction. This game may be something that can help with it.
Being addicted to a substance isn't something you can just wish away, or meditate away. Acting like it's just a matter of self control is borderline disrespectful of the effect a substance dependency can have on a person.
In my case personally, I've been on prescription Adderall for years. I went cold-turkey once to reset my tolerance and drop from 25mg to 5mg; I can assure you that the physical and mental withdrawal symptoms are NOT something you can just meditate away. Amphetamine withdrawal was a goddamn nightmare made flesh, and I was on a relatively small pharmaceutical dose. Alcohol withdrawal is apparently less immediately bad, but drastically more insidious, and there are so many social structures in the world that encourage drinking that quitting completely is astoundingly hard.
I'm not saying meditation can't help, or that it didn't work for you, but I am saying it's not a magic bullet, and definitely won't work for everyone. This game is just a tool that some people can use to help themselves.