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iQuestions Faculty, Dr. David Eckman 
 
 
Question: 
 
What role does the imagination play in addiction? 
 
Answer: 
 
Imagination has a forgotten role in addiction. One of the things that 
we’ve discovered as we’ve worked with people who are compulsive or 
addicted is they’re incredibly passive when it comes to the 
imagination. The imagination for them is just a tunnel that all of this 
addictive thinking, pictures, perception of realities flows through— but 
they don’t manage the imagination. 
 
The imagination is the way to directly assault the most important part 
of what’s called the addictive cycle. When a person gets into addiction 
they need a fantasy world, a false world, to justify the behaviors. 
Because the behaviors are very damaging, so a lot of lying has to take 
place to justify the behavior. And that’s done through the imagination, 
where a false perception of life, relationships, and self, takes place. 
 
When a person who is struggling with addiction begins to accept a 
different picture of themselves, for example, the Bible’s picture of 
themselves, or God’s perception of themselves, or other people’s 
perception of themselves, and they start actually using that gift of 
imagination, they’ll discover something very odd. As they begin to use 
their imagination in a healthy and helpful way they’ll have the capacity 
to push aside the pictures, the thoughts, the thinking, that go with 
addiction. 
 
Addiction is an illusion, because the person incredibly passive in 
addictive behavior. If they start exercising their humanity— and part of 
 
 
that humanity is their imagination— they’ll discover within themselves 
the ability to manage their own hearts, and with the management of 
the heart comes freedom. 
 
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