| Abstract: | Reviews the book, Psychoanalytic approaches to addiction edited by Angela Smaldino (see record 1991-98128-000). Contrary to what one might read into its title, the book is only partially about alcohol and other drugs AOD addiction. Three of its seven chapters address other types of addiction: destructive relationships, love, and food. The implication is that similarities among the various addictions will serve to illustrate a common unconscious motivation of "the addictive personality" revealed by psychoanalysis. Nowhere in the book, however, is this explicitly stated. The chapters are as the beads of an unlinked chain. They are as a series of associations in a patient's stream of consciousness, each one rich in detail, captivating, and insightful, but as yet without the analyst's interpretation as to how they are linked. The daunting task of that interpretation is left to the reader. This book is a valiant effort to move the psychoanalytic field in the direction of accommodating to the needs of an important patient population. It is not a primer to be taken as a directive, but a useful tool that the more sophisticated reader may employ as an impetus to stimulate further thinking. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved) |
