1The purpose of this paper is to identify and to demonstrate the role and significance of the counterphobic mechanism in addiction. The latter term is used in a primarily descriptive sense and includes phenomena which are both socially accepted and repudiated.

2The observations reported herein are based on the analytic treatment of one patient who was an alcohol and drug addict in the traditional sense of this term, as well as on observations of two men who used tobacco in a socially approved manner. In addition to the clinical material, some cultural phenomena pertaining to this problem are discussed.