Exit the Maze: One Addiction, One Cause, One Cure sheds light on the failed addiction treatment industry and what can be done about it. Blame is useless. There is a solution. After decades of personal and professional experience, Dr. Marks claims abstinence and addressing the underlying trauma of addiction is not enough. With this approach, one addiction simply replaces another, and genuine self-fulfillment is never achieved. She asserts that addiction is not a brain disorder but rather an attachment disorder. When an attachment with a loving parent is missing or disrupted, an invisible hole forms, and addiction covers that void.

Marks contends that every addiction is a substitute for love and the only lasting remedy is to substitute every addiction with an act of self-love. Each chapter provides exercises designed to help the reader heal the underlying void and focus on replacing addictive behaviors and reactions with loving behavior and actions. The more a person makes a loving choice in place of a self-destructive one, the addiction is forgotten, and one’s life is restored with meaning and purpose.

Are You Trapped in the Addiction Maze?

Addiction is a black hole that threatens to engulf our entire society. In the U.S. alone over 100 million people are addicted, and according to the World Health Organization, over 3.3 million people die from alcohol related deaths alone each year. Billions of dollars spent on prevention and treatment have yet to slow the ever‐rising rate of addiction‐related deaths. The current models have failed.

Exit the Maze arose from Dr. Donna Marks’ three decades of personal and professional experience as a psychotherapist and educator. She has distilled these lessons down to the essentials:

• Learn about the one addiction, and how once we acknowledge and identify the originating cause, we can employ the one cure.
• Discover why willpower doesn’t work, and what you can do to leave your addiction behind like a bad relationship, and never want to go back.
• Find out the number‐one reason most addiction treatment fails and what to do about it.