Substance Use Disorder: The Value of a Psychoanalytic Approach to Treatment

Abstract

This qualitative research study makes use of Interpretative Phenomenological Analysis to examine psychoanalytic psychotherapy as an effective treatment method for patients with a history of substance abuse. This research queries the experiences of psychoanalytically oriented therapists treating clients with substance use histories in private practice settings. In semi-structured interviews, these therapists were asked to describe the influences of psychoanalytic psychotherapy they considered most important in helping patients to sustain their recovery from substance abuse. Themes that arose in the interviews addressed screening of clients, therapeutic techniques, barriers to successful treatment, and adverse experiences and negative outcomes for clients. Case examples from the participating therapists illustrate positive outcomes from psychodynamic processes in which patients developed and harnessed ego strength, self-awareness, and self-responsibility through catharsis, insight, and the therapeutic transference in which the therapist serves as self-object. The interviews with clinicians clearly demonstrate that utilizing psychodynamic modalities with patients who have issues with substance use is a meaningful intervention, through which patients can have corrective emotional experiences, develop a positive and flexible sense of self, increase agency, cease using substances, connect in caring ways with community, and ultimately create meaningful lives.