Addiction as Persistent Traumatic Experience: Neurobiological Processes and Good Contact

Abstract

AbstractIn the wake of the relationship between theory and practice of Gestalt therapy and neuroscientific knowledge, the author delineates the connections between neurobiological processes in addiction and its traumatic emotions. The cortical and subcortical areas involved in the processes of addiction are deeply interconnected with those delegated to cognitive functions. These are the same areas activated in primary attachment relationships, and traumatized in addiction by the power of addictive experience. There is also a functional link between the need for affiliation, support, and vulnerability and addiction. The treatment of addiction becomes transformative if is able to support and fulfill the intentionality of belonging that is never completely fulfilled in the organism-environment field.