Addiction is a Demon

This demon does not ever want to lose control. It achieves power by changing the brain's very structure, using a molecular switch in your reward system called DeltaFosB.

DeltaFosB is a transcription factor that alters gene expression. This process rewires the brain, building new pathways that mediate long-term adaptations in neurons and synapses to make the addiction permanent. This reinforcement strengthens the "bottom-up" impulses from the limbic reward systems, while simultaneously weakening the "top-down" control from the higher-order brain areas. The result is the systematic removal of your ability to choose.

To defeat the demon, you must disarm this weapon. With every day of sobriety, the ammunition of DeltaFosB is lost. The data shows a clear decay: after three months of sobriety, its strength decreases by 25%; by six months, it drops to 50%. After one year, it no longer actively influences the rewired pathways, and the choice to use is once more totally in your control.

However, those pathways still exist; thou now dormant. This is the reason relapses are so devastating.

After a year, your sobriety becomes recovery.