Charles Melman – Addiction
 
THE LETTER 16 (Summer 1999) pages 1-8
 
I am going to tell you things, both classical and original, having consequences for the treatment of addicts. As you know, neither Freud nor Lacan directly interested themselves in the area of addiction. Nevertheless, they have left us with a certain number of elements which will allow us to have an orientation and also to arrive at conclusions with respect to this very  difficult question. I am going  to start with  some of the theses  that  Freud tackles in his famous work Mourning and Melancholia. These theses are going  to tell us that  we are all dependent and that we are all in a state of addiction. Secondly, I am going to try to show you the role of addiction in the field of toxicomania. And then in the third  part of my presentation I am going  to give you the exact name for the drug that is used by toxicomaniacs.