Hope can be both a promise and a prison

Jonny Thomson and Dr. Elias Dakwar explore how the same yearning for change—whether for peace, connection, or freedom—can trap those battling addiction in a cycle of repeated pain. For someone struggling with addiction, hope can fuel the illusion that this time will be different — that the next drink, the next high, the next weekend won’t spiral into chaos. Or, conversely, it can feed the desperate longing to return to a past when things weren’t so bad. Is there a way forward that transcends this cycle? Perhaps there's another kind of hope — a deeper, more transformative one: The hope that true freedom is possible and that the things addiction promises — peace, connection, relief — can be found elsewhere. If so, the challenge is to nurture that hope, to guide it beyond the cycle of suffering and toward something real.