Kleinian Conceptualization of Heroin Addiction, Part 1: The Paranoid-Schizoid Position

This article presents a theoretical framework for understanding heroin addiction, which is based on Melanie Klein ’s developmental theory, as it pertains to primary mental states. Its main premise is that Klein’s paranoid-schizoid position has many similarities to active drug addiction, and that heroin addicts use the same defense mechanisms as infants in coping with the anxieties arising from their struggl e with a persecutory internal and external reality. The similarity between the conflicts that characterize a drug addict’s mental life and the dramas that characterize an infant’s internal world during his early mental development are also discussed.

Source: Clinical Social Work Journal - September 16, 2016 Category: Psychiatry & Psychology Source Type: research