Addictions and Depression: the Paradise Lost

Abstract

From a phenomenological point of view, all addictions lead to the final collapse of the Dasein structure (the constitution of the Being-at-the-world-with-others). Subsequent to having travelled down many different psychopathological pathways, many addicts remain without the spatial-temporal 'here and now” dimension. This makes it impossible for them to stay in a space-with-others and to project themselves in time. The result of this time/space cleavage is emptiness. It is very difficult to treat this existential situation, which is characterized by patients frequently dropping out of conventional treatment, the loss of the being-at-the-world structure, boredom, emptiness, dread, anger, lack of meaning, loneliness, and isolation. In this paper Dasein Group-Analysis (an original interpretation and application of Binswanger's Dasein-Analysis) is proposed and discussed. Unlike Dasein-Analysis, this approach applies phenomenology beyond the classic pair of analyst and patient, to a group of people made up of doctors and patients, in which everyone is simply a human being at the world.