Addiction Archives - Public Seminar

Psyche

What Would You Do Alone in a Cage With Nothing but Cocaine?

On self-identity and the philosophy of addiction

February 10, 2026 • by Hanna Pickard

Reader, I do not know who you are. In particular, I do not know whether you use drugs, whether you are addicted to drugs, or whether, in addition to being addicted to drugs, you identify as an addict. If you do identify as an addict, I hope to speak to ...

What Would You Do Alone in a Cage With Nothing but Cocaine?

The self-fulfilling prophecy of a diagnostic label

I woke up in a plastic bed to a nurse with a thick Russian accent asking me to sit upright so that she could draw my blood. It was a peculiar way to start my first full day in the Fairfax Behavioral Health facility. The night before, I had been ...