Every police station, hospital ER and women’s shelter in America knows that the highest incidence of drunk driving, domestic violence and other crises are recorded during Thanksgiving, Christmas and birthdays. In this series we’ll follow nine paths into, and out of, addiction — from the mainstream to the mystical.

Holidays are high-season for socializing. But office parties, family weddings -- even Easter brunch -- can spin off into a yin-yang whirlpool of the good, the bad and the ugly. The good: they are peak moments for comfort and genuine joy. The bad and ugly: they can become forums for Pulp Fiction-style medieval moments -- family dramas, emotional blackmail, settling old emotional scores (and scars), and other id-stuff that trigger people’s addictions.

How many times have you seen a colleague, sometimes married, who drinks too much at an office party, and makes a scene that’s practically X-rated?

Next: Addiction for Dummies