Alcohol and loneliness: In my solitude

Abstract

This article presents a clinical description of the solitary aspect of alcoholism and an original psychopathological theorization of alcoholic isolation. Our aim is to better understand this vulnerability of alcoholic patients and their secret sufferings. Solitary intoxication, whether or not in the presence of another or in a group, facilitates the avoidance of a reality experienced as too painful. This isolation would result from an early feeling of insecurity, close to that experienced in psychosis. A prototypical clinical case aims to explain how the problematic nature of this isolation can be identified and then elaborated, within a psychotherapeutic setting “that gives confidence” and starts from the “offer of speech.” We emphasize how the alcoholic individual can revisit the capacity to be alone in the presence of the other, which is a necessary condition for mentalizing a nonpathological solitude.

Key words:

• solitude
• isolation
• psychopathology
• alcoholism

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Isabelle Boulze-Launay

Authors

Isabelle Boulze-Launay is senior lecturer in clinical psychopathology and research director at the Paul Valéry University of Montpellier, France, foundation member of the Collaborative University Platform for prevention and therapy program evaluation (CEPS), and co-director of the Master’s in Clinical Psychopathology and Psychoanalysis. She is also a clinical psychologist with the University Hospital of Nîmes in addiction services. Her research questions why and how the “work of illness” in addiction and somatic illness changes the lived experience of the relationship to the body, to time, and to others. Her qualitative approach contextualizes the “work of illness” as a function of the nature of the session (prevention, care, patients’ associations, etc.) and moments of the encounter (during and in follow-up). She has numerous local and national responsibilities, for example, board member and vice-president of the scientific commission of the National Association of Prevention in Alcoholism and Addiction (NAPAA), and member of the Management Council of SIRIC (Integrated Cancer Research Center), Montpellier.

Alain Rigaud

Alain Rigaud is an honorary hospital psychiatrist, former director of the addictology division of the public Mental Health Hospital, Marne, and honorary president of the National Association of Prevention in Alcoholism and Addiction (NAPAA). Having practiced psychiatry since 1975 and in parallel trained in psychoanalysis, he has from his first years of practice met people with problematic alcohol behavior and/or other addictive behaviors, and dedicated his work more particularly to their care and to the study of addictions. His specific training and practice have engaged him in clinical work at the crossroads of medicine, addictology, psychoanalysis, and the dynamics of mental health institutions, conveyed through university teaching (Universities of Reims, Nancy, Paris 8, Amiens) and publications. This practice also led him to focus on prevention and public health. He has presented several expert contributions to learned societies and public and parliamentary bodies on issues related to the prevention and management of addictions.