Addicts (of some level of severity perhaps) begin to 'distort' time, or treat time differently, or see it in a different way. Much like a habitual procrastinator, but perhaps not with their addiction (they might put priority on their addiction, but eventually they tap their time and money resources dry, or even somehow into negative credit). They seem to focus on what they feel they NEED, and then everything else gets the longest back burner possible.
This causes many crucial tasks or events to only get done at some “apparently” random interval. That is to say, by putting some crucial errands till the last minute, it might be sometimes or often that "unforeseen circumstances" cause these things to not get done at all.
There is an inability for an addict to organized oneself beyond this point and this inability probably could be said to be as much the cause of the addiction as the effect.
Nonetheless it’s a very “real” distortion of one’s reality (the addict sees life from this time perspective), and to understand addiction it seems we need to attend to it.
It leaves one with an inability to plan one's time but for one thing.
It might actually be impossible, or near impossible for a severe addict to plan beyond getting high, until the prospect of getting high becomes clear and/or achievable with some certain time period.
Somewhere in there is a strong "cure" or "solution" perhaps, that seems to involve using one’s addiction to get clean, which is something historically the addict (or families/friends) didn't/doesn't have control over-ie organized crime owns the drugs/drugs are too expensive etc..
This might speak to families a little bit, in helping them (us) understand what it really means to point to a severe addict and say, "Do x first, and THEN get high". Doing X "first", where X is anything but getting high, might actually be something that is not in the addicts reality or possible field of vision until the brain changes first.
Then I would suggest the change on the brain that is needed is some level of sobriety, perhaps even if only for a few days.
I see, for example, and in relation to addiction and the mental accounting barrier, an addict might spend tireless amounts of hours on their cell phone looking to score. Hours perhaps and often all through the night. On the other hand, I observe, although multitasking while looking to score is extremely difficult, there still is the possibility to tend to other texts, such as family or loved ones, on the side.
So MOST of the mental capacity is used to score, but there is still some room left over, or some time in between messages to attend to other smaller duties, sentiments, and relationships.
This could be directly useful, but I still feel there is also the possibility to "deceive" the addict slightly, and/or to take up enough of their attention to disrupt some of their addiction, or at least to make Nash's sentiments about the introduction of a side road (even if no one uses it) to change the nature of the game and/or participants:
…(an additional road)…can slow down the total network…the addition road doesn’t necessarily help.
That is to say that the occasional, possibly repeated (or perhaps random) sentiment from a family member, might spark change, in some circumstances (probably through overload/exhaustion).
There is the suggestion of some amount of extra capacity beyond the addiction and tending to it, and I think there is also the suggestion (along with experiences with different dialogues) that texts, or reading writing perhaps, happens in a part of the brain that is not hijacked or not completely hijacked by the chain of addiction.