The well-known insecurity of all addicts, their inordinate fear of dependence on anything other than their chosen substance, and the difficulty of getting them into analysis and holding them, are fully explored by Zoya. He is of the opinion that analysis stands a chance of success only if combined with voluntary institutional treatment; other considerations apart, the patient tends to vent his hostility on the institution and to keep his analyst as an ally.

Zoya isolates three constituent elements in addiction—organic habituation, repetitiveness, and craving for a magical para-religious ‘something’, fusion with which is sought ritualistically in the actual taking in of the substance and in the ensuing sensation of fullness and reconciliation. This last element is the central problem in therapy; it has however a positive