> there is a lot of evidence that just a bit of attention from another person may be helpful, and affective attention may work wonders Anecdotally, this matche

> there is a lot of evidence that just a bit of attention from another person may be helpful, and affective attention may work wonders Anecdotally, this matches my second-plus-hand observations. In particular, professional "caring" is seen as clinical curiosity (at best) and less authentic, whereas ordinary-person empathy is more meaningful even in small doses. Relatedly, addicts who seek traditional addiction therapy (anecdotally and second-plus-hand observationally) become lifetime (so far) addicts in how they perceive themselves, even if they quit the substance/behaviour. This tends to have a depressive effect. Addicts who make other changes in their lives which break the addictions have a more reflective view of the different times of their lives (non-addicted, addicted, then non-addicted again), and appear happier. Addiction and depression are complicated things which I do not have any special knowledge of personally! However, I have varying adjacencies to many people with more complicated lives than my own. I share these anecdotes only because the observations are stark and seem important.