Evening star., 1939-09-21
Of Stors, Men
And Atoms
Notebook Of Science Progress
In Field, Laboratory
And Study
By Thomas r. Henry.

By Thomas r. Henry.
Drug addiction is symptom Of some
underlying disorder Of personality rather
than malady in itself.
Such is the thesis advanced in the
Medical Annals Of the District Of Co.
lumbia by Dr. Dexter M. Bullard, pro-
fessor Of clinical psychiatry at George
town University.
For this very reason, he maintains,
cures are so difficult to secure The ad-
dict, however profuse may be his pro-
tests that he wants to be cured, really
resents the most effective means he
knows to escape from his troubles. From
analysis Of cases in his own practice, DR..
Bullard says, he finds that the under
lying causes usually originate in early
childhood and have something to do with
events which cause child to feel inse-
cure and to lose confidence in himself
and other persons. This engenders
strong hostility toward the world, in itself
uncomfortable. The drug enables one to
associate with Others
1t may sometimes, DR.. Bullard believes.
be the one alternative to insanity. It
seems to work in almost precisely op-
posite way to alcohol, so far as actual
behavior is concerned. The one releases
inhibitions, sometimes to the point where
the alcoholic loses control of his be-
havior. The other enables the addict to
control himself.
Treatment Is usually, he believes, quite
ineffective unless the physician can get
at the bottom of the underlying per-
sonality difficulties. Sometimes sup
posed cures are brought about, but often
with decided personality loss on the
part of the patient He becomes as
vengeful and hateful as his nature de-
mands. This was precisely what the drug
kept him from being before.
Says DR.. Bullard: I'm our studies OF
very young children we observe that
when they are acquiescent on the sur
face and sly and stubborn underneath
there is something wrong in the way they
are being handled. Such small child
can be very exasperating and try our
patience to an extreme. The constant,
bitter animosity Of drug addicts in a
state Of deprivation and their suave,
f1awless detachment when supply of
the drug is available are both an indica-
ton of faulty upbringing as children.
THE drug addict when he has access
to supplies allows himself no outlet for
his animos1ty. Whereas whisky permits
the alcoholic lessening of the embargo
on the expression of hostility, the TAX
ing Of drugs pushes further out of con-
sciousness anger and destructive wishes.
Also the alcoholic when drinking feels
less inner opposition to the frank express
sion of affection. The satisfying sensa-
tions and phantasies from drugs on the
other hand are more solitary, more mar
cissistic and serve to keep the individual
estranged from other people. Since his
suspicion OF any frank, open contact with
any one Is so deeply rooted 1t Is dificult
to make friends with him. Since life has
given these people such major hurts, and
since their drug -engendered phantasies
are so far beyond actual satisfactions, it
is hard to interest them in undergoing
the painful process Of adjustment to
realities.
Hostile feelings play large part in
both alcohol and narcotic addiction. The
alcoholic whom the wife describes as the
incest person in the world when sober
can only vent his anger when the Gus
tomary inhibition is released. After the
explosion is over wishful thinking comes
into play. Neither wife nor husband
wants to believe the anger is genuine.
Thus we have the fiction maintained
that the alcoholic is matrimonially we'll
adjusted person. Despite the number of
divorces due to alcoholism there would
inevitably be more If it were not for the
safety valve that liquor supplies for the
pent-up resentment
In the case of morphine one former
user spoke of 1t as follows: 1t served
as chemical straight jacket dulling the
ethical and moral sense; a sublimation
achieved by drugs, pleasing to the in
dividual and making me at the same
time by naturalization acceptable to
society. 1t dulls and makes us less
aware Of thoughts and desires offensive
to our conscience. There is hatred of
those who deprive us of it, concealment
OF plans to obtain 1t as soon as released.
revenge for the cruel taunting of nurses
and doctors, of being held up to ridicule,
for the humiliation of treatment with no
attempt being made to get at the basic
fundamentals
From the cases studied it can be seen
that drug addiction serves a useful pur.
pose-to deny fact and substitute a
fiction for It, It is equally apparent.
however. that there is no specific set of
c1rcumstances-social, psychological or
somatic-which serves to deviate the in
dividual from the normal or toward drug
addiction. There is need for more re-
search into the character of the pat
terms of the individual addict, out of
which investigation may come an ac-
ceptable theory Of drug addiction. There
Is psychopathology Of the individual
addict but not of drug addiction itself"
Communist Party Supports
District Suffromo