Fragmented Intimacy: Addiction in a Social World

ISBN-13: 9780387726601 / Angielski / Twarda / 2007 / 340 str.

Peter J. Adams

Opis

I recall during my early years as a clinical psychologist being asked by hospital staff to speak with a 32-year-old man addicted to alcohol who was being discharged following treatment for pancreatitis. This had been his third admission for the same illness, and hospital practitioners were exasperated by his choice to continue dri- ing despite being repeatedly told it would cause irreparable damage to his pancreas from which he would be unlikely to survive. I met him in a side-room on the ward. He sat in his pyjamas in the corner of the room, thin and ashen looking, with a worried frown fixed across his face. Our conversation was initially stilted and I was trying hard not to replicate the lectures and sermons he was likely to have already received from hospital staff. As we talked I was able to piece together bits of inf- mation about his current circumstances: he lived alone, he was unemployed, and his only family contact was with a brother who visited to check on him occasionally. He started to relax into the conversation and then talked about his long struggles with alcohol: his drinking had begun in his early teens; it had provided him with con- dence and friendships; he had had some serious motor vehicle accidents; he had tried to stop drinking but soon continued; he had lost friends, jobs, and family re- tionships; and in response he had increasingly sought intoxication as a refuge.

Recenzje

From the reviews:

"Adams (population health, U. of Auckland) uses a social-ecological approach to address the needs of the addicted and those around them. He closely examines the ways addiction disrupts intimacy, leading to cycles of loss and isolation, and the means by which the addicted and those around them can re-engage. ... He provides a significant amount of material about applying these concepts directly to practice at the family and community level." (www.booknews.com, April, 2008)

"Adams provides a refreshing, needed analysis that complements new scientific discoveries; he goes beyond biological and neuropsychological explanations to explore the reciprocal influences of social context and addiction. ... Adams's coverage is novel, and the book is more comprehensive than previous works have been. He offers a solid theory and integrates empirical support throughout his discussion. ... this volume can serve as a library resource, a textbook, or a clinical manual. Summing Up: Highly recommended. All readers, all levels." (M. Bonner, CHOICE, Vol. 45 (10), June, 2008)

Spis treści

PART 1: THEORY Chapter 1 Addiction in Perspective Dangerous Consumptions Overview of the Book Companion Relationships Chapter 2 A Social World Worlds, Paradigms and Assumptions The Particle Paradigm The Social Paradigm Switching to a Social World Chapter 3 Addiction and Connecting Connecting to the World Patterns of Fragmentation Chapter 4 Responding to Addiction The Prospect of Change Setting Out and Setting Back Making it Stick PART 2: PROCESSES Chapter 5 Becoming Intimate Living in Relationships Intimacy and the 'Four Cs' Special Considerations Quality Intimacy? Chapter 6 Intimacies in Addictive Contexts Intimacy within Addictive Relationships Intimacies for Others Systems of Intimate Connections Chapter 7 Intimacy and Power Controlling Tactics The Myth of Disinhibition Violence as a Social Event Managed Intimacy PART 3: FAMILIES & COMMUNITIES Chapter 8 Fragmented Lives Fragmenting Environments How Intimates Respond Broader Social Dynamics Chapter 9 Collective Opportunities Empowerment and Connectedness Reconnecting Intimates Responsibility for Change Change Processes Guidelines for Effective Collective Action Chapter 10 Reintegration What is Reintegration? Six Phases of Reintegration Reforming Intimacies Enabling Closeness and Compassion Domains of Connectedness PART 4: APPLICATIONS Chapter 11 Family Resources Social Resources from Inner Power Social Resources Offered by Services Social Resources in the Family Chapter 12 Mobilizing Communities Volunteer Networks Croatian/Italian Community Clubs An Indigenous Approach Chapter 13 Applications to Practice Barriers to Social Inclusive Practice Social Engagement Social Assessment Facilitative Meetings Chapter 14 Looking Ahead Where It Fits Future Opportunities Glossary Bibliography cHAPTER NOTes

O autorze

Peter Adams has a practice background in clinical psychology and an academic background in critical social theory. He is currently Director of Social and Community Health at the School of Population Health, Auckland University, Auckland, New Zealand. He has developed and taught in postgraduate programs on addictions for the past ten years. Ideas for the book evolved from his 25-year involvement in research, teaching, and clinical intervention involving different aspects of addiction.

Blurb

Fragmented Intimacy transcends familiar concepts of addiction by focusing not on addicts in isolation but on the social contexts that are disrupted and on the struggle that affects all those involved as they attempt to regroup and initiate change. Applicable to drugs, alcohol, and gambling, this engagingly written book offers both innovative theory and practice-strengthening interventions.

Peter Adams’ social-ecology framework examines in depth how addiction disrupts social identity, becoming the dominant relationship in a person’s life and leading thereby to a weakening of connections to family, friends, workplace, and community. It examines how in the long-term course of an addiction one-on-one counseling will have little effect unless it assists in the re-engagement of these core intimacies. The author enhances the reader’s understanding with vignettes of addicted individuals’ lives as relationships are altered (and insights from such chemically-intimate authors as Burroughs and Poe), new takes on the therapeutic relationship, and examples of families, neighborhoods, and communities mobilizing as powerful forces for re-entry.

A sample of the coverage:

• Rethinking addiction through the lens of intimacy.
• Social processes in intimacy versus social processes in addiction.
• Effects of addiction throughout the individual’s social networks.
• Opportunities for intervention at different stages of addiction.
• Resilience building at the individual, family, and community levels.
• Guidelines for family members in initiating change.
• Using social approaches to complement mainstream forms of therapy—starting with assessment.

Fragmented Intimacy provides fresh perspective and new tools for frontline addiction counselors, clinical and health psychologists, social workers, and public health professionals while remaining accessible to the researcher or student in these fields. Its focus on the role of intimacy also provides a useful guide to family members in their response to addicted loved ones.