Mass Pike

The last presentation at the conference was on The Psychodynamics of Narcissism and Addiction and I drove away across Massachusetts mulling over how apt a choice of subject it had been for the assembled audience. I suspect lots of identification was going on. The speaker, Rokelle Lerner, was excellent and blended the acerbic with the amusing and left this audience wanting more. I shall have to wait until she comes to talk in London in October.

The Mass Pike is a good place to think. The traffic is civil and sedate. Not unlike the conference itself which has been a place where eminence in the field has met research has met practitioners, and a great deal of information and knowledge has been shared. There was not much in the way of ‘dangerous driving’ and courtesy was de rigeur, though I eavesdropped a few catty comments about other service providers that revealed the competitiveness between suppliers that underlies the veneer of solidarity of purpose.

What struck me most was the variety of approaches being put forward as being helpful interventions for those suffering from the consequences of too many drugs and too much booze. I think everyone there, all 822 attendees, would agree that abstinence is the desired outcome of any intervention, but the achieve-ability of that outcome was much debated. Dr Joshua Lee from Rikers Island prison for instance, stated categorically that relapse was inevitable, and ‘proved’ statistically the 100% relapse rate amongst the study group of prisoners and ex-prisoners he had researched. The $10,000 a month ‘fancy’ rehabs on the other hand had very respectable ‘success’ outcomes in the 70-80% range. They would, wouldn’t they, I hear you thinking!

Perhaps these musings are not the stuff of blogs and will be better suited to the report that follows this trip. I think I'll stick to the narrative and some of the characters who live in recovery and those who make a living from them.