As a teenager, he attended Tabor Academy, a preparatory school in Massachusetts, but did not have a good experience there, becoming depressed and beginning his experimentation with drugs.

[10][11][12] After earning a bachelor's degree in music from University of California—Berkeley in 1975,[6] Lewis traveled for two years in Asia, including Malaysia, Thailand, Laos, Burma, and a nine-month stint studying the sitar in India.

[10][6] He has called himself a "direct descendant" intellectually from Swiss psychologist Jean Piaget, whose work was a strong influence on both Case and Lewis.

[10] In 2010, he and his wife Isabela Granic, who is also a research scientist in developmental psychopathology, moved to the Netherlands to teach at Radboud University Nijmegen.

[17] His academic research, as well as The Biology of Desire and other writing for the non-academic press, has also challenged the "disease model" of addiction, which Lewis says can be counterproductive toward recovery, though he acknowledges it has been helpful for many people.

Instead, Lewis suggests that it is better described as a process of deep learning and habit formation that is destructive and difficult to break, but can be overcome through insight and self-empowerment.

Instead, Lewis encourages the control or elimination of substance use and binge-eating disorders through self-sustaining personal empowerment and an understanding of the psychology and neurobiology of addiction.

Kirkus Reviews called it a "intellectually authoritative yet controversial declaration that substance and behavioral dependencies are swiftly and deeply learned via the 'neural circuitry of desire.

'"[30] Richard Ferguson of The Sydney Morning Herald praised the book's "very readable" writing style, saying that its "success lies in its ability to communicate complex ideas in a way that will engage you and move you and sometimes make you laugh.

"[31] Publishers Weekly agreed, saying "Even when presenting more technical information, Lewis shows a keen ability to put a human face on the most groundbreaking research into addiction.

Lewis alternates between stories from his own life and explanations of how drugs affect the neurochemistry of the brain, using his own experience with addiction to illuminate and humanize the science.

[36] He has also written for The New England Journal of Medicine,[37] The New York Times,[38] Newsweek,[39] Literary Review of Canada,[40] Aeon,[41] Scientific American,[42] University of Toronto Magazine,[12] The Scientist,[43] The Guardian,[44] Huffington Post,[45] and Salon.