The first question is not “Why the addiction?” but “Why the pain?”

Gabor Mate writes in his book about addiction ‘In the Realm of Hungry Ghosts’ that

“… addiction is neither a choice nor primarily a disease. It originates in a human being’s desperate attempt to solve a problem: the problem of emotional pain, of overwhelming stress, of lost connection, of loss of control, of a deep discomfort with the self. In short, it is a forlorn attempt to solve the problem of human pain. All drugs - and all behaviours of addiction, substance dependent or not, whether to gamble, sex, the internet, or cocaine -either soothe pain or distract from it.”

In therapy, a psychologist will help the client to explore and address the pain that maintains the addiction cycle.

The book In the Realm of Hungry Ghosts by Gabor Mate is available at Gold Coast Library

https://www.goldcoast.qld.gov.au/libraries/Home