Psychopathology of addictions

Abstract

tients frequently dropping out of conventional treatment, the loss of the being-in-the-world structure, boredom, emptiness, dread, anger, lack of meaning, loneliness and isolation. In this paper, Dasein Group-Analysis (an original interpretation and application of Binswanger’s Dasein-Analysis) is proposed and discussed. Unlike Dasein-Analysis, this approach applies phenomenology beyond the classic pair of analyst and patient, to a group of people composed of doctors and patients, in which everyone is simply a human being in the world. If the psychopathological and therapeutic approaches prove to be ineffective, the frequent consequences are: the patient’s admission into a psychiatric hospital; his/her arrest for crimes related to antisocial behaviour; a worsening of their psychopathology and addiction; a diffusion of infective diseases commonly found in addicts; more frequent overdoses; aggressive behaviour; legal problems; an increase in the costs of public health system; and, finally, even suicide of the patient.