Family Addiction Research Articles

The Role of Death in the Addict Family

Drug addiction is a potentially life‐threatening problem with suicidal ramifications. Within the family of the addict, the addiction takes on a special, participatory meaning; the addicted member is treated as one undergoing a slow death. These families attach special significance to death and give it considerable emphasis. This appears to arise from unresolved and premature deaths experienced by the family, particularly the parents. The addict is substituted for the deceased member. Treatment can deal with these issues directly through making the mourning explicit. The death issue can also serve as a vehicle for family change.

Addict Abstinence and the Illusion of Alternatives

EthosVolume 5, Issue 2 p. 138-150 Free Access Addict Abstinence and the Illusion of Alternatives John Schwartzman, John Schwartzman is an associate, Center for Family Studies, Family Institute of Chicago, Department of Psychiatry at Northwestern University Medical School, Chicago. I would like to thank Helen Schwartzman, Charles Kramer, and Larry Feldman for their criticism and suggestions and the Attorney General of Illinois Public Health Trust for financial support. A version of this paper was presented at the 74th annual meeting of the American Anthropological Association, San Francisco, December 1975. The term “illusion of alternatives,” from Weakland and Jackson (1958), originally was used to describe the “no win” situation of the schizophrenic in his family.Search for more papers by this author John Schwartzman, John Schwartzman is an associate, Center for Family Studies, Family Institute of Chicago, Department of Psychiatry at Northwestern University Medical School, Chicago. I would like to thank Helen Schwartzman, Charles Kramer, and Larry Feldman for their criticism and suggestions and the Attorney General of Illinois Public Health Trust for financial support. A version of this paper was presented at the 74th annual meeting of the American Anthropological Association, San Francisco, December 1975. The term “illusion of alternatives,” from Weakland and Jackson (1958), originally was used to describe the “no win” situation of the schizophrenic in his family.Search for more papers by this author First published: Summer 1977 https://doi.org/10.1525/eth.1977.5.2.02a00020Citations: 5 AboutPDF ToolsExport citationAdd to favoritesTrack citation ShareShare Give accessShare full text accessShare full-text accessPlease review our Terms and Conditions of Use and check box below to share full-text version of article.I have read and accept the Wiley Online Library Terms and Conditions of UseShareable LinkUse the link below to share a full-text version of this article with your friends and colleagues. Learn more.Copy URL Share a linkShare onFacebookTwitterLinkedInRedditWechat REFERENCES Agar, Michael. 1969. Ripping and Running. Seminar Press. Agar, Michael. 1975. Selecting a Dealer. American Ethnologist 2(1): 47– 59. Bateson, Gregory. 1972. Steps to an Ecology of Mind. Ballantine Books. Howard Becker, ed. 1963. The Other Side. Free Press. Bourne, P. G., L. G. Hunt, and J. Vogt. 1975. A Study of Heroin Use in the State of Wyoming. Washington, D.C. Foundation for International Resources. Feldman, H. W. 1968. Ideological Supports to Becoming and Remaining a Heroin Addict. Journal of Health and Social Behavior 9: 131– 139. Ganger, Roslyn, and George Shugart. 1966. The Heroin Addict's Pseudoassertive Behavior and Family Dynamics. Social Casework 47: 643– 649. Ganger, Roslyn, and George Shugart. 1968. Complementary Pathology in Families of Male Heroin Addicts. Social Casework 49: 356– 362. Greaves, George. 1974. Toward an Existential Theory of Drug Dependence. Journal of Nervous and Mental Disease 159: 263– 274. Haley, Jay. 1963. Strategies of Psychotherapy. Grune and Stratton. Haley, Jay. 1967. Toward a Theory of Pathological Systems, Family Therapy and Disturbed Families ( Gerald H. Zuk and Ivan Boszormenyi-Nagy, eds.), pp. 11– 27. Palo Alto Science and Behavior Books. Haley, Jay. 1973. Strategic Therapy when a Child is Presented as the Problem. American Journal of Child Psychiatry 4(12): 641– 659. Henry, Jules. 1963. Culture against Man. Vintage Books. Hughes, P., G. Crawford, N. Barker, et al. 1971. The Social Structure of a Heroin Copping Community. American Journal of Psychiatry 128(5): 43– 50. Hunt, L. G., and C. D. Chambers. 1976. The Heroin Epidemics: A Study of Heroin Use in the U.S., 1965-1915, part 2. Spectrum Publications. Jackson, Don D. 1957. The Question of Family Homeostasis. Psychiatric Quarterly Supplement 31(1): 79– 90. Kluckhohn, Florence. 1958. Family Diagnosis: Variations in the Basic Values of Family Systems. Social Casework 39: 63– 72. Levy, David M. 1966. Maternal Overprotection. W. W. Norton. Mead, Margaret. 1942. And Keep Your Powder Dry. William Morrow and Company. Preble, Edward, and John Casey. 1969. Taking Care of Business— The Heroin User's Life in the Streets. International Journal of the Addictions 4: 1– 24. Schwartzman, John. 1975. The Addict, Abstinence, and the Family. American Journal of Psychiatry 132(2): 154– 157. Schwartzman, John, and Larry Kroll. n.d. Addict Abstinence and Methadone Maintenance. International Journal of the Addictions (in press). Selden, Nathan. 1972. The Family of the Addict: A Review of the Literature. International Journal of the Addictions 7(1): 97– 109. Shands, Harley. 1967. Novelty as Object. Archives of General Psychiatry 17: 1– 4. Strecker, Edward. 1946. Their Mothers' Sons. J. B. Lippincott Co. Vaillant, George E. 1975. Sociopathy as a Human Process. Archives of General Psychiatry 32: 178– 183. Weakland, John H., and Don D. Jackson. 1958. Patient and Therapist Observations on the Circumstances of a Schizophrenic Episode. Archives of Neurology and Psychiatry 79: 554– 574. Wilkens, Leslie T. 1968. A Behavioral Theory of Drug Taking, Modem Systems Theory for the Behavioral Scientist ( Walter Buckley, ed.), pp. 420– 428. Aldine. Citing Literature Volume5, Issue2Summer 1977Pages 138-150 ReferencesRelatedInformation

Systemic aspects of abstinence and addiction.

An examination of the addict in his social context reveals that an important aspect of abstinence is the transform of the problem of addiction from an aspect of the social system to within the addict. The drug subculture, the addict's family, and a methadone clinic all covertly elicit and reinforce this transformation maintained by the myth that the addict's is "out of control".

Methadone Maintenance and Addict Abstinence

Families of heroin addicts function so that the addict has a difficult time in remaining abstinent. A study of a methadone clinic indicates that frequently the clinic functions in an analogous fashion to the addict's family. Consequently, rather than alleviating the problem, it exacerbates it. Unspoken conflicts between staff members frequently are acted out through individual patients and result in requests for more medication and more frequent illicit drug use.

The addict, abstinence, and the family.

The drug addict generally has an extremely difficult time terminating drug use and remaining abstinent. A partial explanation can be found in an investigation of the relative meaning of the drug for the addict within his social context rather than viewing the drug simply as a pharmacological agent. The idea that addiction is a social phenomenon within the addicts family suggests a relationship between the functioning of the families of addicts and their inability to tolerate abstinence. Because the abuse of heroin or barbiturates by one family member can result in "rewards" for all family members, the family, in behaving as if the addict cannot control his drug use, functions in such a way as to reinforce the addiction.

Heroin addict clients' description of their families of origin.

The roots of deviance are often sought in the family of origin, and the families of male heroin addicts have not escaped such attention. (See Seldin, 1972, for a review of this literature.) A composite picture derived from the previously reported findings summarized in Table 1 suggests that the addict's mother is typically the dominant and pathological parent, while the father is either weak or absent. Yet it is usually the mother who is seen in positive terms by the addict himself, and the father who is viewed negatively. Presumably in many cases the addict simply accepts his mother's negative view of his father. Some common consequences of this family situation have been reported: (1) the addict's mother may depreciate her son because she sees him as like her husband, and the addict may incorporate his mother's negative appraisal into his self-concept; (2) the addict may experience unusual difficulty in achieving independence from his mother; (3) when he does, he may then select a similarly deviant woman for a mate; and (4) both wife and mother may unconsciously attempt to perpetuate the addict's drug use.

Complementary Pathology in Families of Male Heroin Addicts

Complementary Pathology in Families of Male Heroin Addicts

The Heroin Addict's Pseudoassertive Behavior and Family Dynamics

The Heroin Addict's Pseudoassertive Behavior and Family Dynamics