ABSTRACT

The current chapter reviews research on the self-medication hypothesis of addictive disorders. The self-medication hypothesis is a psychoanalytic model of addictive disorders, and it argues that most people who develop an addiction do so in response to early childhood traumas. Alcohol and other drugs and even behavioral addictions such as gambling are engaged in to cope with dysphoria that arose from past traumas. In addition, the self-medication hypothesis argues that people develop preferences for classes of drugs because those drugs best help ameliorate their psychological suffering. The chapter provides an argument that a person’s drug of choice is linked to their personality style. People with an introjective or anaclitic personality style have preferences for different types of drugs. In addition, there are clinical implications, based on psychoanalytic research, that result from knowing the patient’s personality style.