Contemporary psychoanalytic scholars and clinicians have long been concerned with the ‘difficult’ patient. Those suffering from addictions are considered particularly difficult. if not impossible. to treat. Dr. Walant in her book, Creating the capacity for Attachment: Treating Addictions and the Alienated Self. suggests an object relational model for understanding, engaging, and working with addicted patients. She bases her therapeutic interventions on a theoretical paradigm that emphasizes the primacy of attachment and merging experiences. Drawing heavily on the theories of Bowlby, Winnicott, and Stem's infant research, Walant makes a strong case for the importance of these experiences and their impact on future personality development. She suggests that present day child rearing practices,