Gestalting Addiction

Book excerpt: This volume explores the addiction-focused group therapy sessions led by Dr. Richard Miller, revealing the way he directs and works with collections of shifting feelings and energies. Many traditionalists have struggled with and even refuted the notion that psychotherapy can be valuable in addiction treatment. They have argued that psychotherapy is too general, that addicted people need more addiction- specific treatment. Dr. Miller has responded that psychotherapy is an immensely powerful tool which can be directed to meet the specific needs of its recipients, that it can be addiction-focused. He has also argued that psychotherapy is essential in addiction therapy and that gestalt therapy is a powerful tool in the retrieval, examination, and release of buried feelings that may create fertile ground for addictive behavior. The volume includes edited and abridged transcripts of psychotherapy sessions led by Dr. Miller, didactic descriptions of components of his methods, an interview with Dr. Miller, autobiographies, and poetry of some of the group participants, and a look into the future of psychotherapy in addiction treatment.