@ Caravan, and @ Earth Walker ~
You both are absolutely correct. I didn't mean to word it in such a way that it sounded so linear or Newtonian. Just so many conflate the two, especially in the disease-model of addiction, that they make it sound like we're hoplessly chained to complex, hidden and unknowable traumas that must first be untangled, sorted through, endlessly analyized, before the actual addiction can be addressed (and yet never fully resolved).
We are multidimensional beings, and can operate on separate (yet interconnected) planes simultaneously. To EW's point, working on our psychology will definitely affect our addictions and habits, as to ignore this, certainly has the opposite and damaging effects.
In my own approach I use spirituality, mindfulness, CBT, ERP, the science of habit change, etc..., while these seamlessly interweave for me nowadays, I do try to approach this holistically, taking nothing for granted.
However, based on cutting edge approaches (e.g., mindfulness, rational recovery, and other methods), I find it necessary to not delay the actual breaking and ending of the habit (addiction) itself, in the name of 'inner healing'. While they're definitely linked, as EW noted, the habit itself can be ended by simply not responding to it, for or against. As we dismiss urges over a relatively short time (between 90 to 120 days), we will change and/or end our habits.
To Caravan's point, we can (and should) work on our deeper issues simultaneously, but know that the habit itself needn't take as long as our inner healing often does. The lower brain (animal) may use this complexity as an excuse to continue its drip-feed (or flood-tide) of dopamine to stay alive, as it were.
Lord knows, for me, I have deep rooted trauma: emotional neglect and abuse, physical abuse, runaway teenage trauma (one can imagine), rejection, bullying, etc, etc...., and so my own addiction, which has continued in various forms for almost 30 years, has many deep emotional drivers. However, what I've discovered through my own hit-and-miss efforts over the years is that I can deal more effectively with the habit in the immediate, even as (though I said 'before') I deal with the deeper emotional/spiritual aspects.
Thank you both for your very important discussion.