ABSTRACT
Before describing the details of our view of the phenomenology of addiction, we first locate our perspective in a specific historical context. We do so with a review of the work of a number of key theorists in the addiction field. We trace the origins of our position back to the ideas of Rado and Simmel—two of the earliest psychoanalytic theorists on addiction. We continue with an examination of the thinking of Wieder and Kaplan as well as that of Milkman. Finally, we conclude with a discussion on the thought of Krystal, a thinker whose work constitutes a cornerstone of modern psychoanalytic thinking on addiction.
