He suggests that our increased tendency to talk about our problems as "addictions" is indicative of the more potent "autonomy addiction" that lies behind it: "the illusion that we can be fully masters of ourselves".
With this opening scene, Haglage launches into a threefold tale: that of Bergere, the man who has arranged her treatment, and the little-known compound that she has ingested, which, according to true believers, is a potent anti-addiction tool.
There are potential clues as to Bigelow's political leanings in, for instance, the film's introductory quote: "The rush of battle is often a potent and lethal addiction, for war is a drug".
"The rush of battle is a potent and often lethal addiction," he writes, "for war is a drug, one I ingested for many years".
"The rush of battle is a potent and often lethal addiction, for war is a drug," says Hedges.
The film's true subject is explicit from the opening quote: "The rush of battle is a potent and almost lethal addiction, for war is a drug".
The Hurt Locker opens with a quotation from War Is a Force That Gives Us Meaning, a best-selling 2002 book by Chris Hedges, a New York Times war correspondent and journalist: "The rush of battle is a potent and often lethal addiction, for war is a drug".
"Sources" say exhaustion and overwork, while "insiders" are reporting that his hospitalisation is a direct result of his addiction to a potent cough-syrup mixture called, variously, sizzurp, purple drank and lean.
Reporters have a nasty addiction to a particularly potent drug: the attention that comes from getting a scoop.
So this combo of adrenaline and dopamine are a potent one-two punch with regards to addiction.
