"Gary Winship has produced a highly original exploration of drug taking in the twenty-first century. Beginning with a clear statement that this issue is a growing and poorly managed one, the author draws on a wide range of classical thought, psychoanalytic theory, and his own clinical experience to explore a fresh approach to understanding why people take drugs. This book will be very useful for students in clinical fields such as nursing, social care, psychotherapy, and drug support work. It is also an important contribution to the drug policy debate."
- Professor Nick Manning, Director, Institute of Mental Health , University of Nottingham "Gary Winship’s Addictive Personalities and Why People Take Drugs: The Spike and the Moon is an imaginative and innovative book, taking the reader through many fields of addiction, from cultural locations and ancient myths of addiction, through psychodynamic theories of addiction, to controversies in contemporary drug policy. The author’s scholarship and experience are impressive, as is the clarity with which he tackles the subject. Given the widespread nature of substance misuse in society, it is timely to have a book offering such a fresh re-think."
- Martin Weegmann, Consultant Clinical Psychologist, group analyst, and author "Why do we take drugs? I haven’t the faintest idea, but Gary Winship has a damned good go at telling me the answer. Some might say this is a largely academic book, but as an ex-psychiatric nurse and a Jo Public for the last twenty-five years, I’d say there’s something in here for everyone. We’ve all taken drugs at some point in our lives (except, perhaps, my grandma) so one way to find out why is by reading this fascinating book."
- Jo Brand, comic, author, and actress Contents: ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
ABOUT THE AUTHOR PREFACE CHAPTER ONE: Fixing the pill mentality
CHAPTER TWO: Creation myths and breast junkies: in search of milk and honey
CHAPTER THREE: “Dracula”: from Stoker’s classic of compulsion to Arthur’s dark room 33
CHAPTER FOUR: The Prometheus Syndrome: addiction, death, and the liver in mind
CHAPTER FIVE: The pleasure paradox: nirvana and death dependency
CHAPTER SIX: Major Tom, Lucy, Bion, and the psychotic vacuum REFERENCES
INDEX |
