Ange Weinrabe

This book rethinks one of the most pressing issues of our time. Addiction is often framed solely as a brain disease, yet it reflects conditions that can touch anyone, shaped by culture, society, and the emotional worlds we inhabit. Culture and Addiction: Neuroscience and Affective Scaffolding suggests that a philosophical approach and critique of the reified addiction-as-disease concept is needed, before addressing the impact that non-evolutionary and evolutionary factors may have on human behavior. Presenting an ambitious interdisciplinary synthesis, this book challenges exclusively biomedical paradigms in addiction studies through what the authors term: "An Integrated Approach." It highlights the crucial role of affective, sensory, and spatial landscapes, while rigorously examining the cultural mechanisms that shape the emergence and remediation of addictive phenomena. By viewing addiction through the lens of scaffolding theory, cultural interaction, and social cognition, this book moves beyond conventional treatment models to reveal deeper, more nuanced ways of understanding compulsive behaviours and choices. The central aim is to integrate biological, psychological, and cultural dimensions, resisting the tendency to reduce addiction to either a purely medical condition or a purely social problem. Appealing to scholars, clinicians, policymakers, and advanced students in medicine, philosophy, and law, this book offers a transformative lens on one of society’s most urgent challenges.

Introduction: Young people are experiencing an escalating global mental health crisis, intensified by the effects of COVID-19, cultural disconnection, and the limited fit of conventional clinical models with diverse populations. While biomedical and psychological models remain essential, they often underplay the symbolic, sensory, and relational dimensions of emotional life. This review explores how young people interpret and regulate their mental health through expressive, symbolic, and sonic practices. It proposes that the Culture-as-Practice (CAP) framework can complement existing approaches by offering a more integrated understanding of how cultural participation supports wellbeing. Methods: A narrative review informed by the CAP framework, which extends the Culture-as-Interaction (CAI) model, was conducted to evaluate how participatory cultural practices function as affective technologies. Literature published between 2010 and 2025 was systematically identified from five databases and screened using PRISMA-informed protocols. Data were analyzed thematically with CAP and CAI constructs. Two case studies–Whānau Ora (New Zealand) and Giving Emotions Meaning through Arts and Health (GEMAH) (Pakistan and Australia)–were selected to illustrate how CAP explains mechanisms through which cultural participation supports emotional wellbeing. Results: Participatory arts such as music, storytelling, and ritual were found to serve as cultural technologies that foster emotional regulation, identity coherence, and social connection. Sonic and symbolic practices created co-regulatory fields of belonging, effects often absent in conventional clinical models. CAP aligned with these findings by offering a theoretical lens to explain why such practices work, reframing them as structured culture as affective technologies rather than incidental engagement. Discussion: Culture-as-Practice provides more than an alternative to biomedical models. It offers an explanatory framework for why participatory, culturally grounded practices support youth mental health and wellbeing. By positioning emotional regulation as relationally and symbolically scaffolded, CAP highlights opportunities for integrating creative and communal practices into trauma-informed, culturally resonant interventions across schools, communities, and clinical settings.