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that they had some sort of deep insight or understanding of their self-destructive behaviors and as a result knew how to deal with them next time. Often I’ve advised these people that their plan for dealing with cravings, which is based on their new “insight,” is not likely to work. Usually, my advice falls on deaf ears. In many cases, their friends and loved ones are also telling them that their plan is foolhardy. Yet they persist. Why? Why can others see what they cannot? Why are they so convinced that their methods are going to succeed, and that their friends, loved ones, and even their doctor “simply don’t understand”?
    This is where cognitive biases come in. As noted above, your brain uses these biases to create the illusion of control to protect your ego and to provide more efficient thinking. Sometimes, however, the natural tendency toward efficiency results in false reasoning, and this is directly related to the way your brain uses cognitive bias. Many such biases exist; we’ll go over some of the ones that are most active in people who crave.
    Confirmation Bias
    One such bias is called the confirmation bias. The confirmation bias leads you to naturally accept any evidence that supports your belief and to reject any evidence that goes against it. An absolutely fascinating aspect of this bias is that your susceptibility to it is genetically determined! The confirmation bias is a particularly tenacious bias, because you believe you are reviewing evidence, and you end up with a litany of data supporting your position. As an example, I once advised a patient completing addiction treatment that returning home to live was a very bad idea, as her husband was still drinking and using drugs. Also, she mostly drank at home and quite often with her husband. I thought that some time in a sober house might be helpful, so she could learn and practice a sober lifestyle in a safe environment before attempting a return home. She believed, however, that she had acquired powerful insight into her addiction that would keep her sane. Furthermore, she cited dozens of examples where she had been able to avoid drinking or using drugs around her husband. Of course, her friends and other patients pointed out that there had been hundreds, or even thousands, of times when she couldn’t avoid drinking around her husband. Nonetheless, she stubbornly held on to the times when she could and described the times when she did drink as conscious, intentional choices. She went home and was drinking again before nightfall. This same confirmation bias plays a role in helping the compulsive gambler go back to the casino to “reclaim the money they are holding for me” (that is, to recoup his losses).
    Hindsight Bias
    Another bias I’ll frequently see in people who crave is called the hindsight bias. This is a bias that basically allows you to believe that, even though you recently acquired a belief, you really have thought that way for a long time. A more precise description is that when people are asked to recall a former response after having been told the correct response, what they remember tends to drift toward the correct response. Remember, biases serve important roles. They protect your sense of self. It is important for you to believe that you make good decisions, that you are in control, and that you have not been fooled. Protecting that belief is far more important to your brain than seeing the truth. Research shows that people who are more vulnerable to the hindsight bias are often more concerned with their image, social desirability, and need for predictability and control. 28 The hindsight bias helps you protect those beliefs. I will sometimes see patients whose self-destructive behaviors have resulted in destroyed marriages, estranged children, lost jobs, and alienated friends. Sometimes it’s drug addiction; other times it’s gambling addiction or even eating disorders. When I meet such people and ask them why they engaged