The Addiction : a Pubertal Mode of Expression (Duranstante, 2011)
RATIONALE
First of all, teenagers go trough difficulties about biologic transformations during puberty. They also adjust their identity by internalizing and differenciating parent’s and society’s values. It’s difficult for adolescents to be one whereas they need others but they have to differenciate each others. For adolescent body represent evident transitions from childhood to adulthood. This body is marked by investments of mother’s libido. In fact, this body doesn’t totaly belong to adolescents but to his family and retain past trauma from childhood and past generations. Generational trauma experienced by parents passed on their children. Adolescent try to take the control of this body again and find a solution in acting out.
During adolescents challenge them by doing risk conducts to have addiction about a toxic product (drugs, alcohol) or about a behavior (mental anorexia, sport).
FRAMEWORK
Duranstante (2011) quotes the addiction’s definition of Pedinielli and Bertagne (2000). Addiction is a processus from « repetitive acts could provoke pleasure but marked by dependance to a material object or a situation, searched and consummed by avidity ». Addiction concerns people who have dependant conducts with products as alcoholism and toxicomania and without toxic products.
Precisely, addiction is a repetitive compulsion i.e people can not resist to the impulsion to realize a behavior. After, people who are engaged in addictive behavior feel pleasure. Nevertheless, negative effects follow up acting out like a feeling of loss of control, tense and depleasure when dopamine effects disapear.
Addiction is vital for people to what to extent that they don’t feel alive without addictive behavior. For some people addiction is a medium to represent their life and make sense to their live.
Addiction transforms sensations about fear of fell into activity of thinking. Growth of pulsional excitations from primers trauma which are reactived by puberty and reshaping identity.
ARGUMENTS
Duranstante considers addiction as a defensive medium against trauma, desaffectation, violence and depression.
First, this chapter aims demonstrate the link between addiction and transgenerational psychic transmission. Addiction may be a defensive medium against elements of generational trauma which have reactived by puberty. Duranstante, the author of the book wonders if addiction could be considered as the result of excess of excitation from trauma‘s past generation. Pirlot (1997) as quoted by Duranstante, affirms that addiction inhibits effects of trauma of anxiety’s death. As people can not elaborate about this trauma they find the other way of taking part addictive behavior to surpass pain and distress. I am agree with Pirlot, adolescents find acting out a solution to calm distress and pain. It also a medium for them to alert parents in order to they take care of them.
Contrary to Pirlot, Duranstate suggests that persons are addicted to a drug or a behavior take the excess of their drives in transforming in addictive behavior. Indeed, people can not express all tensions that they lived but they need so they use addictive behavior to express tensions in another form. According to Freud, people want keep pleasure and reject depleasure. Sensations of depleasure comeback and reclame to be resolved. Obvisously, all drives can not be discharged because of conditions of society and the entity of Surmoi.
Duranstate (2011) argues that toxicomania, alcohol dependance and mental anorexia are linked by pleasure. Addictive behavior enable to surpass limits and repeat excess of all-power. Person who are addicted search to spend with the death in order to excedd death’s fear. I share the same opinion with the author. Adolescent who are engaged in addiction do new experiences of life. Addictive conduct are risk conduct. So, adolescents tests their limits to know their capacity to resist danger and if they are still alive.
Adolescent is dependant from addictive object because he can not control his use. He tries to replace feeling to sensations. An addictive object is good object but unclear. It is used by calm depleasure, frustration and psychic pain because those bad sensations bring a feeling of intern death, fell.
Second, addiction is studied by the concept of desaffection, elaborated by Mac Dougall. According to her, roots of addiction are primers relationship with child and his mother. Child is used to take care of narcissic weakness and frustrated needs of his mother. As a consequence, child can not be develop an individuation in relation to his mother. So, persecution is present in the relationship and dependance is developped.
In fact, in the same time children have to deliver the goods of his mother and provoke her. The children want gather his mother and him but he can not bring in himself his mother as a comforting and a « enough good » mother. In fact, children can not be alone in presence of his mother. He can not deal with intern excitations and excitation from relationship and choose an extern object. This dependance give him the sensation to be more real and alive. Psychism struggle against trauma to avoid that his homeostasis is in danger and make desaffectation processus. Affects are rejected out of the psychism et come back to body in sensations. Subject are not able to keep excess of affective experience. Sensations of the body are transformated in fantasm, affects. Satisfaction of need and dependance from a product surpass incapacity to anxiety. People project affect trough others.
Dependance of people who are a important narcissic investment hiddens fantasms of permeability, intrusion, invasiveness. Addictive object replace ilusory intern mother. Instead construction in mind, construction is built in body and scene of real.
Third, addiction could be linked with original violence as a transgenerational element. Duranstante quoted Bergeret and deal with everybody has a basic instinct of violence. This violent behavior is developped in reaction with extern danger wich threaten existence of subject. Bergeret formulate two hypothesis : a phylogenetic origin or transgenerational origin. Duranstante chose the second hypothesis as violence is an energy not lied. He explains traumatic transmission of fondamental violence which its not integrated and not representable. So people choose addiction to turn back violence of parental objects. In my point view history of the family is present in following generation’ s life. Uncousciouness, children, adolescents make same mistakes or same acts taht their parents or grand-parents. In short, children of parents who were violent or have been bitten, can be violent or have been bitten.