The addictive process

Abstract

In order to understand and treat addictions one must go beyond the specific agent and practice, one must understand the addictive process. The author bases his conceptualization of an addictive process on twenty-five years of naturalistic observation, individual and group psychoanalytic psychotherapeutic treatment and therapeutic trials of one hundred and thirty-three single and poly substance and behavior addicted patients. No single addictive personality (addict) exists. People become addictive because specific etiological and constitutional factors contribute to their vulnerability to the addictive process. This process can be defined and diagnosed. It involved common inter/intrapersonal psychodynamics. One must look for the addictive complement and trigger mechanisms which can initiate and perpetuate the process. The process has a life history and stages, which can be cyclic, periodic, or sporadic. The individual can shift from one addiction to another or sustain multiple addictions at different times. Understanding the above factors is essential to making an accurate diagnosis and to treatment.