James M. Barrie and the Expanding Definition of Addiction

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Abstract
In the recent literature, the term, “addiction”, has been defined as overwhelming involvement with the use of any drug (Jaffe, 1980) or with any other activity (Peele, 1981). These broad definitions accurately reflect current research trends, but also create problems of clearly distinguishing addiction from healthy involvement and of explaining why “overwhelming involvement” should be considered pathological at all. A study of Sir James M. Barrie's life is used to address these issues. Barrie had several “overwhelming involvements” which make him ideal for a biographical study of addiction in the expanded sense. His life suggests two basic principles. First, that addiction entails intense involvement for the purpose of evading a crucial difficulty or conflict. Second, that addictive involvements tend to form an “addictive complex” in which no particular habit is essential. Should these concepts be borne out, they would help to clarify how addiction differs from other kinds of involvement and why it is properly considered pathological even when illicit drugs are not involved.

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