Addictive Personalities and Why People Take Drugs: The Spike and the Moon

149 Pages·2011·0.673 MB·English

by  Gary Winship

ADDICTIVE PERSONALITIES AND
WHY PEOPLE TAKE DRUGS
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ADDICTIVE PERSONALITIES
AND WHY PEOPLE TAKE
DRUGS
The Spike and the Moon
Gary Winship
On behalf of the
United Kingdom Council for Psychotherapy
First published in 2012 by
Karnac Books Ltd
118 Finchley Road
London NW3 5HT
Copyright © 2012 by Gary Winship
The right of Gary Winship to be identified as the author of this work have been
asserted in accordance with §§ 77 and 78 of the Copyright Design and Patents
Act 1988.
All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in
a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form or by any means, electronic,
mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise, without the prior written
permission of the publisher.
British Library Cataloguing in Publication Data
A C.I.P. for this book is available from the British Library
ISBN-13: 978-1-85575-797-4
Typeset by Vikatan Publishing Solutions (P) Ltd., Chennai, India
Printed in Great Britain
www.karnacbooks.com
CONTENTS
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS vii
ABOUT THE AUTHOR ix
PREFACE xi
CHAPTER ONE
Fixing the pill mentality 1
CHAPTER TWO
Creation myths and breast junkies: in search of milk and honey 17
CHAPTER THREE
“Dracula”: from Stoker’s classic of compulsion to Arthur’s
dark room 33
CHAPTER FOUR
The Prometheus Syndrome: addiction, death, and the liver
in mind 55
v
vi CONTENTS
CHAPTER FIVE
The pleasure paradox: nirvana and death dependency 71
CHAPTER SIX
Major Tom, Lucy, Bion, and the psychotic vacuum 97
REFERENCES 113
INDEX 119
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
I would like to especially acknowledge Brian Woollatt and other
colleagues from the Bethlem and Maudsley drug unit: Fiona Firmin,
Gwen Sobers, Nobby Clarke, Christine Beecroft, Ben Benjamin,
Marianne Cunningham, John Strang, Mike Gossop, and Mike
Farrell. Sue Ritter, Joy Bray, Joan Smith, Beatrice Stevens, Jonathon
Pedder, and Murray Jackson were my teachers and mentors during my
fourteen years at the Maudsley. Bob Hinshelwood, Mike Rustin, and
Barry Richards taught me a great deal about research. Critical friends
and colleagues have read and commented on various chapters and ideas
along the way: Shelley MacDonald, Andy Dominy, Rex Haigh, Sally
Hardy, Malcolm Pines, Henri Rey, David Kennard, Paul Williams, Bob
Young, Gwen Adshead, Barbara Richards, Davey Rawlinson, Christine
English, and Martin Weegman. Anton Obholzer provided helpful
feedback on earlier drafts of the book as did Stephen Kemmis. Other
colleagues to whom I acknowledge a significant debt for my learning
along the way are Dave Foreshaw, Ellen Brown, Cheryl Kipping, Mike
Smee, Chris Hart, David Russell, Ben Thomas, Janis Bell, Kris Dominy,
Clare Unwin, Simon Burling, Sarah Robson, Peter Helps, Ian Darn,
Ishobel Lennox, and Jane Courtney. I am grateful to Emma Cameron
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viii ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
and Julia Cameron for reading chapter six and allowing me to write
about their sister and reproduce a section of Lucy Cameron’s poem,
The Space. Finally, I acknowledge the many clients who have taught me
much along the way.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Dr Gary Winship (PhD, MA, RMN, Dip Gp Psych, Cert Add) is a UKCP
psychotherapist (UPCA), NMC MHN registered; associate professor,
School of Education, University of Nottingham; and senior fellow,
Institute for Mental Health, UoN. He has worked with drug users since
1980. He was formerly inpatient unit ward manager and full-time clini-
cal researcher on the Bethlem and Maudsley Hospital drug dependency
unit, developing and evaluating health education and harm minimiza-
tion intervention. With Janis Bell, he co-authored the service protocols
for the first dedicated methadone outpatient service in the UK. He is an
advocate and supporter of the work of East-West Detox, the UK-based
organization that arranges for addicts to go to the Thamkrabok treat-
ment centre in Thailand. He acted as a policy advisor and researcher to
the Labour Party, 1992–1994, and Conservative Party, 2006.
Gary Winship was formerly a lecturer at University of Sheffield
and University of Reading; visiting lecturer, UCL, University of
Greenwich, University of East London, and Goldsmiths College;
and senior adult psychotherapist, Berkshire NHS Trust, Broadmoor
and Maudsley hospitals. He is a full member of the Association of
Psychoanalytic Psychotherapy in the NHS (APP).
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