ABSTRACT
Many varied and powerful treatment options are available to the practitioner who treats addicts, but many clinicians continue to have the impression that addicts are untreatable by psychotherapy. Although most no longer regard drug addiction as merely a sociolegal problem that is best dealt with as a criminal matter, there are therapists who still consider addicts to be “sociopathic.” However, I believe that many addicted patients are labeled sociopathic when, in fact, the nature of the disturbance may be pathological narcissism or a borderline condition. Thus it is the confusion surrounding the character diagnosis—and, therefore, the integrity of the underlying ego and self structures—that makes these patients difficult to treat.
