Details

Fragmented Intimacy

Addiction in a Social World

von: Peter J. Adams
53,49 €
Verlag:	Springer
Format:	PDF
Veröffentl.:	20.12.2007
ISBN/EAN:	9780387726618
Sprache:	englisch
Anzahl Seiten:	339

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Beschreibungen

Titelbeschreibung

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.

Inhaltsverzeichnis

Theory.- Addiction in Perspective.- A Social World.- Addiction and Connecting.- Responding to Addiction.- Processes.- Becoming Intimate.- Intimacies in Addictive Contexts.- Intimacy and Power.- Families and Communities.- Fragmented Lives.- Collective Opportunities.- Reintegration.- Applications.- Family Resources.- Mobilizing Communities.- Applications to Practice.- Looking Ahead.

Autorenportrait

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.

Back cover copy

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:
<UL>

<LI>Rethinking addiction through the lens of intimacy.</LI>


<LI>Social processes in intimacy versus social processes in addiction.</LI>


<LI>Effects of addiction throughout the individual’s social networks.</LI>


<LI>Opportunities for intervention at different stages of addiction.</LI>


<LI>Resilience building at the individual, family, and community levels.</LI>


<LI>Guidelines for family members in initiating change.</LI>


<LI>Using social approaches to complement mainstream forms of therapy—starting with assessment.</LI>
</UL>

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.

Sonderbeitrag

Presents a social complement to the mainstream “particle” or individualized approaches developed in most other books on addiction Integrates recent advances in theory on community capacity building, resilience, and social ecology Has a practical focus, with early content leading to the practical applications in Part IV Is written in an accessible and engaging style, with numerous vignettes, “key points,” and illustrations to highlight the relevance of content to everyday experience Includes supplementary material: sn.pub/extras

Verkaufsargumente

Here is the first major work that examines the benefits of applying social understanding to addiction. Traditional approaches have been dominated by what the book labels "particle" perspectives, in which treatment focuses on the person experiencing the addiction. Despite decades of research, particle-based approaches have yielded marginal results in reducing addiction. The author demonstrates how a social perspective shifts the paradigm from viewing a person in terms of particles to viewing a person in terms of relationships. This reorientation creates promising new opportunities for intervention. The book discusses recent advances in theories on community capacity building, resilience, and social ecology alongside their practical applications for psychologists, addiction counselors, and social workers. Written in an accessible and engaging style, the book features numerous vignettes, key points, and illustrations that demonstrate the relevance of content to addiction intervention.