Civilisations Fatal Addiction: War as a Neural and Social Compulsion

What if war is not a political failure, but a physiological one? What if nations return to conflict for the same reason individuals return to the bottle, the needle, or the fight - because their nervous systems have learned to feel coherent only in crisis?Civilization's Fatal Addiction reframes war as a neural and social compulsion. Drawing on three decades of work across mental health, addiction, education, and institutional behaviour, James Storrar reveals how: - trauma reshapes the brain's reward circuitry- crisis becomes a generational inheritance- societies develop "high-arousal coherence"- political systems ritualise escalation- and entire civilisations become dependent on the biochemical and cultural highs of conflictThrough the interwoven stories of Thomas, Edward, and Sarah - three generations shaped by war, blackout, and addiction - Storrar shows how personal trauma mirrors collective pathology. Their lineage becomes a Rosetta Stone for understanding how crisis loops form, why they persist, and how they can be interrupted.This book is not merely an analysis of conflict. It is a diagnostic framework for a civilisation in chronic dysregulation - and a blueprint for healing.You will explore: - why modern societies struggle to "come down" from crisis- how inherited trauma shapes national behaviour- why war narratives are neurologically addictive- how institutions rehearse the same patterns as traumatised families- and what it would take to redesign time, connection, narrative, and inheritance at a civilisational scaleUrgent, original, and deeply human, Civilization's Fatal Addiction offers a new way to understand conflict - and a path toward a world no longer dependent on war to feel alive