The Failure of Separation and Individuation in Adolescence Leading to Addictions

Abstract

As addictive behaviours are prevalent during adolescence, our article attempts to extend the understanding of addictions by assessing changes in aspects of separation-individuation theory and the relation of those to addictions (alcohol, substance use and virtual addictions)—investigating the quality of the relationships of these cases. Our hypothesis is that there is a relationship between failure of the successful separation-individuation stage during the child’s developmental period and addictions later on during adolescence period. Our study is based on empirical data deriving from projective tests, the Rorschach 10 inkblot test, of patients experiencing that type of relationship patterns, their separation from the primordial object and their capacity to mentalize. This empirical study explores the psychological profile of two adolescents with addiction. A sample of two adolescents (16 and 17 years old) whose addictive behaviour had provoked difficulties in their educational and family environment was engaged in psychoanalytic psychotherapy sessions. Two Rorschach’s inkblot tests were administrated in the initial session in order to relate patients to their addictive behaviour and to examine the relation of separation-individuation phases with the ability to mentalize and the addiction patterns of the above persons. Results suggested that there is a correlation between separation-individuation and proneness to addictive behaviour which can imply that adolescents with failure of separation-individuation processes are more likely to develop addictive behaviours due to non-internalized secure objects during childhood and to failure of mentalizing.