Addictive Disorders manifest via deficits in regulating emotions, self-esteem, relationships, and self-care, leading to the inability to abandon detrimental substances or behaviors. Often, causal factors for addictive disorders include biological, psychosocial, cultural, and social factors. According to Khantzian (2020), environmental influences such as traumatic abuse, peer pressure, safety, and parenting may increase individual susceptibility to addiction. With much emphasis regarding addictive disorders resting on substance abuse and gambling, various psychoanalytical psychotherapy is one of the most profound interventions for treating and preventing addiction.
Psychoanalytical/psychodynamic psychotherapy assumes that essential psychological factors lead to addictive behaviors and activities (Khantzian, 2020). In a retrospective study by Mooney et al. (2019), the researchers evaluate the applicability of psychoanalytical psychotherapy in treating and preventing gambling addiction. Therefore, the research targets patients struggling with compulsive addiction seeking treatment at the National Problem Gambling Clinic (NPGC) in London. According to Mooney et al. (2019), psychodynamic therapy is crucial in exposing unconscious patterns by enabling patients to reflect, clarify, and confront interpersonal conflicts, wishes, and defenses that strengthen addiction.
The research revealed that psychodynamic psychotherapy successfully treated patients’ addiction problems by imparting a sense of intrinsic awareness while reducing depression and anxiety. However, researchers acknowledged that various limitations hampered the study’s precision and validity of the conclusion. For instance, investigators identified a lack of scholarly literature, data disparities, and research model as the major drawbacks for the study. Therefore, it is essential to evaluate scholarly evidence to justify the applicability of psychodynamic psychotherapy in addressing addiction.
Although insufficient scholarly evidence compromises the determination to render psychodynamic psychotherapy effective in treating addiction, some studies support this approach. Verma & Vijayakrishnan (2018) argue that this therapeutic approach helps patients better understand themselves, their unconscious desires, motivations, and conflicts. On the other hand, Whitman & Olesker (2021) contend that psychoanalytic approaches play a significant role in treating opiate, alcohol, and marijuana dependence patients. Finally, Khantzian (2020) supports the topic by arguing that psychodynamic psychotherapy enables change agents to identify, target, modify and eliminate causal factors for addiction. Undoubtedly, these sources are scholarly because they are peer-reviewed, organized, and published in reputable databases to provide additional insights into the topic.
Khantzian, E. (2020). Psychodynamic psychotherapy for the treatment of substance use disorders. Textbook Of Addiction Treatment, 383-389. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-36391-8_26
Mooney, A., Roberts, A., Bayston, A., & BowdenâJones, H. (2019). The piloting of a brief relational psychodynamic protocol (psychodynamic addiction model) for problem gambling and other compulsive addictions: A retrospective analysis. Counselling And Psychotherapy Research, 19(4), 484-496. https://doi.org/10.1002/capr.12251
Verma, M., & Vijayakrishnan, A. (2018). Psychoanalytic psychotherapy in addictive disorders. Indian journal of psychiatry, 60(Suppl 4), S485–S489. https://doi.org/10.4103/psychiatry.IndianJPsychiatry_16_18
Whitman, L., & Olesker, W. (2021). Introduction – Addiction: A ubiquitous problem. The Psychoanalytic Study of The Child, 74(1), 227-233. https://doi.org/10.1080/00797308.2020.1859302
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