This is true but some irrational behaviors (and I am not indicating that addiction is one of them) are predictable. If we were able to recognize early signs, identify patterns, and detect at-risk individuals before they are lost some serious effort should go into pursuit of this goal. Some lessons from behavioral psychology can potentially be applied here.

For example, one well-documented study found that individuals who get the signal that corruption (cheating/ stealing/ bad behavior) is okay from authority figures are significantly and rapidly more likely to engage in that behavior themselves.