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Heroin Addiction and Related Clinical Problems: 2013, 15, 3 (pages: 9 - 18)

Malleus maleficarum... the superstition of psychosocially centred intervention in addictive diseases. Heroin Addiction as case study

Pacini M., and Maremmani I.

Summary: The meaning of psychosocial features in drug addiction is often misunderstood. They are often regarded as the core of the disease, or as independent indicators of global severity, instead of being interpreted as possible expressions and consequences of addictive psychopathology. Furthermore, evidence about the psychosocial impairment of drug addicts is treated as if it were directly dependent on the theory and practice of psychosocially based treatment of such patients. Thus, we have become familiar with the paradox according to which psychosocial requirements or engagement are employed as therapeutic instruments in treating a condition characterized by the disruption and neutralization of psychosocial resources. We have tried to analyse the role of psychosocial factors in the diagnosis and treatment of drug addiction, with the aim of distinguishing between the possible frontiers of psychosocially assisted treatment and the counterproductive psychosocial engagement of untreated drug addicts. We have also tried to classify those factors and psychosocial treatments by applying the criterion of consistency with the main aims and known dynamics of drug addiction treatment.