Dual diagnosis intervention on a psychiatric ward: clinical practice and research

  • Emanuela Atzori
  • Simona Paciotti
  • Giovanna Testoni
  • Dario Maran
  • Serena Corio

Abstract

The authors, besides describing their therapeutic activity of dual diagnosis intervention on a psychiatric ward, discuss ideas widespread in current literature which consider the abuse and addiction of substances as an attempt at self-medication; the use of substances would work as an external regulator in the disorder of emotionality control. Starting from the assumption that abuse of substances is due to a compulsive search for sensations driven by a loss of sensibility possibly leading to some level of alteration in the capacity to perceive human relationships, the authors propose a key interpretation where the principal problem of addiction does not originate from a deficit in the development of the symbolic functions inhibiting the adaptive control, but from a lack in the development of affective dimensions due to a dynamic of annulments in the relationships with others. The principal objective of the therapeutic activity during hospitalization is therefore to stimulate in patients the recovery of a natural sensibility considered a fundamental condition for a real development of reflexive functions. With this aim the authors have introduced specific therapeutic groups of sensitization namely cinema and literature groups, whose characteristics are described in the article.

Published
2013-01-01