Intimacies in Addictive Contexts

In previous chapters, addictive relationships (those connecting a person with an addictive substance/process) were viewed from above, looking down on connecting objects. As signaled by the passage from Anne Brontë’s book, this chapter delves more into the intricacies and dynamics faced with intimacies in addictive contexts. It takes the analysis of intimacy developed in the previous chapter and applies it in detail to addictive systems. Since the lived experience of such systems differ for those who are in an addictive relationship and for those who live around them, this chapter approaches intimacy from two separate angles: first, from the point of view of inside the addictive relationship, that is, between the person and the addictive substance/process; and second, from the point of view of other intimates, that is, between other people in the immediate social system with the person in the addictiverelationship.