Complementary Pathology in Families of Male Heroin Addicts

The Addict as Savior: Heroin, Death, and the Family

“…A number of people have written about the function served by a person's heroin addiction relative to the rest of his family (cf., 1, 5, 6, 16, 17, 18). The model is similar to that presented by Haley (8) for schizophrenics, i.e.…”

“…Other members may also contribute. For example, the close mother‐addict relationship so well documented in the literature serves to rob father of his power as a spouse and a parent and perhaps increase his hatred, while siblings may resent the addict's favored position and also feel guilty about their own “success” at his expense (6, 17). It is not the purpose here to explicate the individual or intrapsychic motivations involved, however.…”

The natural history of a drug treatment system.

“…Treatment implications are suggested at this level.Addiction, although traditionally assumed to be an intrapsychic and/or physiological problem, has recently been redefined as part of an interpersonal process, especially family interaction. As has been described in the literature (7,20,31), there are several characteristics that seem to be particularly important in understanding the relationship between the addict's experience of his or her family, and those behaviors and experiences that are collectively the manifestations of the addicts' "addiction." As stated in an earlier paper (19), the family structure and the core problems seem remarkably similar irrespective of the ethnic group and socioeconomic status.In this study, a majority of the addicts were male so they will collectively be referred to as "he" in the text.…”