It is a brain disorder: a diagnosable illness where the delta-FosB protein is overexpressed in the prefrontal cortex.

But that doesn’t prove that this story, spoon theory, is “addiction in a nutshell.”

Edit: my point is this story doesn’t match what I know about addiction at all. The woman consciously and deliberately allocating her energy (spoons) is not the life of an addict. Addiction is generally a life lived unconsciously.

If I was going to put it into spoon terms, it’s that you start your day with 30 spoons. Everything you want to get done that day requires a total of 20. But, you still end up short because you spent most of your spoons on drinking/blow/porn/games and in your moments of lucidity you just think “what the fuck”.

First I've heard of this. Somewhat contraindicated by the opiate addiction epidemic.

Opiates, like most drugs, cause overexpression of delta-FosB.