Theory of Temporal Disequililibrum in Addiction

W. G. Jacyna. | 1 February 2026

The inbalance of time within the human consciousness

At the age of 18, I found myself living with addicts and alcoholics. After recovering from my own addiction, I began helping others achieve sobriety. What have nine years of living with, working with, and studying addiction taught me? Something known to most addicts is the struggle to live in the present. A well-known slogan of AA is “just for today”. The word “slogan” originates from the Gaelic term sluagh-ghairm, meaning “battle cry”, frequently referring to fallen warriors, so perhaps we should bury the slogans along with the fallen, at least for now.

A universal component of addiction is some form of trauma, a past event or series of events stored in the body and mind. Most addicts are either running from the past, trying to avoid it, or caught in a cycle of obsessive, shame- or melancholic-filled reflections. Unable to let go, heal, and live comfortably in the present. This is supported by the clinical literature.

Another cognitive distortion typical in an addicted individual is drifting into fearful contemplation of the future. “Fortune-telling” and conjuring up catastrophes that have not yet, and likely never will occur, is an addict’s favourite pastime.

To borrow a word from Piaget when he described infants, this constant state of disequilibrium, this disharmony, keeps an individual in a state of distress. How does the traumatised individual mitigate this distress? I must use, I must drink, I must find a future source of comfort to reduce past suffering and perceived future suffering.

I have discussed behavioural causes for addiction with neuroscientists and psychologists from Cambridge and Exeter University when planning my postgraduate research, and it is very much an area of contention. A multiplicity of theories exist, and our contemporary understanding of addiction is fragmented into different belief systems.

At Beacon Therapeutic Practice, I support service users to reduce what I describe as “disequilibrium” by healing from past trauma through psychotherapy. Anchoring yourself in a meaningful goal in the future through existential therapy (he who has a why can bear any how). Then, most importantly, building daily habits to ground yourself in the present through mindfulness, meditation, prayer, or whatever activity creates a sense of inner stillness.

Through establishing a harmony between these aspects of time: past, present, and future; inner peace can be experienced. An individual is able to live comfortably in the present, enjoying each moment as it arrives and cultivating a sense of inner peace.

Empowering a client to orient themselves across time, often for the first “time”, provides a scaffold in which true recovery can be constructed.

W. G. Jacyna | 1 February 2026