Book excerpt: Popular psychology / therapy / health / education. "Choosing the temporary discomforts of desire over the permanent discomforts of possession." A guide for health professionals, patients, clients, and the lay public on working with addictions, compulsions, and dependencies in any of their multifarious forms and at any of their many levels, from the apparently harmless to the destructively complex. Part I is about understanding the systemic nature of addiction. Part II deconstructs the bodymind stages of becoming addicted. Part III is about therapist issues around the subject. Part IV, client issues. Part V explains how to resolve addictive contradictions (e.g. "I can't give up and I must give up"). Part VI offers a systematic information activating and changework questionnaire for facilitators of all kinds, from self-helpers to experienced therapists.