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The Psychodynamics of Addiction, edited by Martin Weegmann and Robert Cohen, is one of those rare publications that one can quite confidently predict will become a classic in its genre. On one level, this observation perhaps reflects the paucity of psychodynamic literature devoted to furthering our understanding of addictive processes; however, more pointedly, credit is due to Weegmann and Cohen for their judicious and insightful presentation of a fascinating series of papers by clinicians working in this challenging field.
The book is presented in four distinct parts, with sections on: theoretical approaches to addiction, therapy, supervision and countertransference, and a closing chapter on family dynamics and addiction. One of the most pleasing aspects of the volume is the adroit application of the theoretical perspectives, cogently presented in Part 1, to the highly informative and interesting clinical vignettes presented in the later chapters. In addition, I found the willingness to explore the diversity within psychodynamic understanding, as this applies to addiction, really refreshing.
Part 1 of the collection is entitled A Review of Different Schools, with the editors, very sensibly in my view, electing to present a detailed consideration of three key theorists and the application of their views to addictive processes. Wilfred Bion's model of the container and the contained is explored in Chapter 1, followed by a chapter on attachment, and finally one on Kohut's investigation of narcissistic vulnerability. I found the opening chapter on containment, by Arthur Hyatt Williams, highly informative and quite gripping. Hyatt Williams explores the connection between infantile feelings of emptiness or the distress of separation and the later attempt to contain these, otherwise uncontainable feelings, through recourse to drugs. While the chapter acknowledges the early analytic contributions on addiction by authors such as Simmel, Rado, and Glover in the 1930s, it is th