Psychoanalytic approach to understanding the nature of addictive behavior

Kazantseva Elena Vasil'evna PhD in Psychology Associate Professor of the Department of Psychology, A.P. Chekhov Taganrog Institute (Branch), Rostov State University of Economics (RINH)" 347936, Russia, Rostovskaya oblast', g. Taganrog, per. Turgenevskii, 32 Klein44@yandex.ru Other publications by this author     Makarov Aleksandr Viktorovich PhD in Philology Associate Professor, Department of Psychology, Chekhov Technical University (branch) of RSEU "RINH" 347900, Russia, Rostovskaya oblast', g. Taganrog, per. Turgenevskii, 32 aleksandr-makarov-81@mail.ru

Moskalenko Anna Evgen'evna PhD in Psychology Associate Professor of the Department of Psychology, A. P. Chekhov Taganrog Institute (branch) "RSEU (RINH)" 347900, Russia, Rostovskaya oblast', g. Taganrog, per. Turgenevskii, 32 Klein44@yandex.ru Other publications by this author

Introduction

Modern society can rightly be called addictive. Addictions and addictions surround and haunt a person everywhere, firmly woven into the fabric of everyday life. The urbanized environment makes a person flexible and malleable to the demands of society, putting forward as the main condition the rejection of their own desires and needs. Instead, society offers an elegantly packaged "desire of the Other" as an iconic landmark in the space of universal pleasure, as a microform of compensation for what I really need and is not available at the moment ^[8]. Such a psychoanalytic interpretation of the nature of addictive behavior allows us to look at the problem of addiction from a new angle, highlighting the possibility of understanding the underlying driving forces of human behavior. In our study, an attempt is made to analyze modern psychoanalytic approaches aimed at considering the nature of addictive behavior.

The historical perspective of the scientific consideration of addictions shows that the clinical approach occupies the first place in the space of addictology, or the psychology of dependent behavior ^[10]. The identification of addictive behavior as a phenomenon of addiction is associated with the study of chemical addictions ^[1]. At the same time, medical and clinical approaches are more focused on the analysis of the forms of addictive behavior themselves and the development of rehabilitation and support programs for addicts ^{[9; 10; 14]}.

Psychoanalysis in the scientific space of dependent behavior went its own special way, intertwining with medicine and clinical psychology. D.V. Avtonomov points out "that the first descriptions of psychopathological and psychotic mechanisms underlying and leading to the formation and fixation of addiction were made by European and American psychiatrists-psychoanalysts in the early and mid-twentieth century. The idea that dependent patients suffer from overpriced, delusional and magical ideas is not new, exceptional or typical only for domestic authors" ^{[1, p. 107]}.

Psychoanalytic concepts and practices formed at the turn of the millennium and working in the space of dependent behavior are more aimed at establishing the causes and prerequisites for the development of dependent behavior based on the analysis of the subject's language and experience of his description of interaction with reality ^{[13; 21]}.

Another reason for the need to turn to a psychoanalytic approach to understand the nature of dependent behavior is indicated by Rick Loose: "Another reason why it makes sense to consider the possible contribution of psychoanalysis to the field of addiction is that the contribution of objective and empirical science or psychiatry has so far led only to unsatisfactory results demonstrating complete inconsistency. A full–fledged diagnosis of addiction based on the description of addictive/compulsive behavior (drug taking, alcohol consumption), addictive/toxic characteristics of drugs and alcohol (and their effect on the psyche, body and social environment), as well as the course and development of an addictive disorder/disease, has not been successfully implemented. It is also not possible to establish an exact causal relationship between addiction and specific psychological characteristics, social factors or medical/organic anomalies that could uniformly explain the phenomenon of addiction. This definition contains so many semantic constructions that it has no explanatory value" ^{[21, p. 276]}.

Three vectors of development of psychoanalytic thought in the space of addictions

The study of addictions in psychoanalysis today is an interdisciplinary approach. One of the most interesting options for the mutual synthesis of ideas to describe the nature of addictive behavior is offered by modern psychodynamic theories presented in the works of L. Strazen (Strathearn, L.) P. Laytan, P. Fonagy (P. Luyten, P. Fonagy), appealing to the search for parallels and coincidences between the concept of "attachment" and the neurobiological conditioning of the state of dependence ^{[17; 20; 22; 23]}.

In the works (P. J. Flores, S. De Rick, A. Vanhaul, etc.) ^{[20; 22]} it is confirmed that social relations, and in particular, the attachment system should give a person a positive experience, this makes him psychologically more stable, able to withstand stressful situations and leave behind healthy offspring. Various studies have shown that for humans, as for higher animals, attachment is reinforced by a powerful neurobiological reward system. The neurobiology of attachment and mentalization of an individual is described in the literature on the basis of the process of building a variety of mesolimbic and mesocortical pathways in the cerebral cortex. The most important conclusion of neurobiological research was the idea that hormones such as oxytocin and dopamine, acting as key mediators, participate in the formation of mesolimbic and mesocortical pathways ^[22]. At the same time, a number of studies have also proved that opioid and cannabioid systems in the cortex are activated in a situation of feeling pain, unmet needs as a result of rejection or social loss. What is formed in the psychology of cognitive processes is usually defined as memory engrams or memory traces formed at the level of physiological and neuron-chemical connections ^[12]. In Strazen's study, special attention was paid to the influence of the process of producing certain hormones during social interaction in the "mother – baby" situation. The researcher notes: "the process of formation of mesocorticolimbic and nigrostriatal dopamine pathways is associated with the processing of sensory signals during the care of a newborn, which leads to the laying of the foundations of a certain behavioral response. Oxytocin can activate dopaminergic reward pathways in response to social cues"^[22]. In his recent works, the author pays special attention to the study of the hormonal background of the mother herself in the process of caring for the baby and the reactions of the child. His findings, as well as those of other researchers (Bartz, Zaki, Bolger, & Ochsner, 2011; Neumann, 2008) show that the presence of early psychological trauma in mothers themselves, as a rule, contributes to the formation of their own unreliable type of attachment. At the level of mediator and hormonal connections, a low value for the level of basic oxytocin was demonstrated ^[22]. In a number of other studies, it has been proven that oxytocin is able to strengthen attachment in both positive and negative directions. People with a reliable type of attachment received a positive reward in the form of trust in others and positive emotions, people with an unreliable type of attachment, as a rule, experienced anger, anxiety and frustration, i.e. negative reinforcement on a familiar stimulus increased ^[22]. Researchers explain such an ambiguous role of oxytocin by the need for a person to develop stable patterns of behavior in stressful situations. In emergency and dangerous situations, people with a reliable type of attachment under the influence of oxytocin tend to seek help and support from others, demonstrating affiliation behavior. This behavior serves to optimize the possibilities and effective joint regulation of stress, combining with other people, reducing behavioral and neuroendocrinological reactions to stress (Neumann, 2008 Neumann, 2008). As P. Laiten and P. Fonagi point out, the action of oxytocin also enhances the process of mentalization and trust in others ^{[22, p. 6]}. For people with an unreliable type of attachment, association with others does not have a positive experience or is devalued, therefore it is not used as an effective strategy, such people tend to solve problems on their own or postpone their solution if there is such an opportunity.

The analysis of the nature of emotional response, taking into account the activation of hormonal and mediator connections on the basis of attachment theory, serves as the basis for integrating the neurobiological approach and psychoanalysis to understanding the nature of addictive behavior.

Modern psychodynamic concepts mainly work in the space of studying the structure of the Ego (ego psychology). There are three main factors that lead to the development of addiction: (1) undeveloped ego functions and defense mechanisms; (2) inability to symbolize the protective and supportive qualities of internalized ideal objects; and (3) distorted representation in relation to models of pleasure in the form of pleasure ^{[22, p. 9]}. According to the followers of ego psychology, the formation of dependence is more likely in individuals with insufficiently formed Ego functions, which is expressed in its inability to adequately assess reality, consider barriers and obstacles as stimuli for development, form the control of involuntary impulses and the synthetically integrative function of interaction with reality ^[22]. To see more clearly how a person builds emotional response systems to significant situations, psychologically resists social pressure and supports his own Ego, allows such a concept as mentalization.

Mentalization acts as one of the leading concepts in the context of modern psychoanalytic research. Literally, mentalization means a form of emotional response. For the first time, the concept of "mentalization" was used in the works of Peter Fonaga ^[5].

Mentalization is understood as "the fundamental way of existence of the human psyche, in the system of its social functioning and self-regulation, taking into account that early experience and interpersonal connections with significant other objects in the child's life, his internal states and their representation" ^[4].

Peter Fonagi defined under this category "the process of transformation of bodily arousal into an internal representation of one's desires and fantasies." E.S. Kalmykova gives a more targeted interpretation of this concept: "mentalizing means learning to develop thoughts about one's own desires" ^[4]. To think about the desire, to realize it and allow yourself to accept it as mine, important to me.

The concept of mentalization is closely connected with the concept of attachment and allows you to see the process of formation of introjects: patterns and value attitudes that a child receives in early childhood, to assess the nature of their refraction in individual consciousness and the formation of an image of oneself and its translation to others. As some researchers point out, the category of mentalization corresponds to the concept of "mental processing" in the works of Sigmund Freud. The process of forming a basic hope and reliable attachment allows the child to immerse himself in the world of his fantasies and dreams and through this immersion "see", imagine reality. The system of the child's relations with ideal objects (parents), aimed at creating such conditions in which the child can be natural and alive, feeling and willing, gaining a healthy projective identification. Symbolically, this process can be represented as "the rebirth of It into the structure of the Ego."

If the mother and father have no idea what the child is going through, the child does not form a stable idea of his own "I". At the initial stage, the mother performs mirroring, i.e. understanding what the child feels. If the mirroring is broken ("it seemed to you", "you can't feel it") or is absent in the child, there is a violation of his mental organization at the level of representation of emotional experiences and their evaluation, at the level of mentalization ^[4].

In adulthood, mentalization refers to the ability to "recognize one's own mental states and the mental states of other people and consider these states separately from behavior" ^[4]. When a person is under stress, under the influence of a negative affect or in a state of strong excitement, the process of mentalization is difficult. If an adult has not developed the ability to mentalize, he perceives reality truncated, not completely, which can lead to various mental disorders. Such people most often internally have a strict ban on experiencing their own emotions and are not able to understand what others feel, according to the exact expression of P. Fonaga, "the lack of close connection with the first internal experiences leads to the formation of pseudo-mentalization, and even more precisely rationalization" ^[4]. Therapeutic influence in the space of mentalization allows us to successfully work with such problems as depression, impaired eating behavior and addictions, correction of certain forms of maladaptive behavior," Ts.P. Korolenko, N.V. Dmitrieva emphasize in their study ^[5].

In the work of A. Fenko and M.I. Levin, similar thoughts are expressed, the authors note that, as a rule, strong and unlived emotions of shame and guilt, inability to accept oneself and one's needs, to build satisfactory relationships with other people are behind addictive behaviors. "For the same reason, drug addicts suffer from violations of other functions: they have impaired self-regulation of the affective sphere, control over impulses; they are unable to maintain high self-esteem" ^[11]. In personal terms, such a distortion leads "to the inability of many addicts to build close interpersonal relationships" ^[11]. The inability to regulate affects, emotionally trust and open up forms problems associated with intimacy and acceptance of the other. All this makes such people very vulnerable in any stressful situation or harsh environmental conditions, they cannot turn to a supportive super-ego, which does not contribute to the formation of more mature protective mechanisms of self-regulation. The ego remains at the level of primitive defenses (denial, idealization and mechanisms of projective identification). These are the forms of defensive behavior that are characteristic of people with addictions.

The psychological mechanism of addiction formation looks like this: the fragile core-ego is confronted with the principle of pleasure put forward by the Id, and has no way to resist its onslaught for a long time. A weak ego yields to the requirements, for example, by acquiring and consuming psychoactive substances, compulsively overeating or participating in sex or gambling. A. Fenko and M.I. Levin note: "Addictive patients can use the same drug for opposite purposes. Some people drink to relax and unwind after work, others — to relax and get the opportunity to get started. Some drink to suppress their sexual urges, others — to meet love adventures fully armed. Some drink to calm their anger, others want to give themselves aggressiveness or assertiveness. Some people drink to dull their emotions, and others — to get the ability to feel them, to give them an outlet" ^[11].

The second significant point for describing the nature of dependent behavior from the perspective of the psychoanalytic tradition is the system of emerging object relations and those representations of the world that surrounds the child "to trust – not to trust the world", "to be accepted – rejected" ^[17]. Thanks to the experience of interacting with a significant adult, images of ideal objects with their qualitative characteristics and systems of views and assessments are embedded in the child's inner world (all that becomes the child's personal introjects).

People with dependent behavior can turn to an external regulator, i.e. narcotic substances that help to "imitate the soothing qualities of a good object", isolate themselves from hostile reality, immerse themselves in the magical world of dreams. A similar position is taken by F. Kohut: "By taking a drug, he [the addict] symbolically forces the object of the self to recognize him and calm him down, or he symbolically forces the idealized object of the self to achieve complete fusion with him and thus allow him to share magical power with him… It is as if a person with a huge fistula in his stomach was trying to satisfy his hunger with food" (Kohut, 1977) [citation 2].

This point of view is not shared by all supporters of the psychoanalytic approach. In particular, J. Khantzian (Edward Khantzian), argues that ideal objects endowed with negative appearances are not replaced by narcotic substances. As a rule, most addicts suffered from an emotional disorder and had all the signs of "mental suffering". It is the suffering that addicts try to overcome or alleviate with the help of drugs. In almost 80% of cases, such people have problems with self-control of the emotional sphere, a tendency to experience boredom, anxiety, depression, and anger expression. Based on the analysis of the behavior of addicts, J. Hanzian deduces the so-called "self-medication hypothesis", according to which an individual, experiencing mental suffering, tries to find ways to cope with this situation independently in the ways that are available to him ^[2].

Reading Addictions using the Lacanian Method

A qualitatively new approach to understanding the nature of addictive behavior is given by psychoanalysts based on the works of J. Lacan. Among such researchers are Ariane Bazan, Sandrine Detandt, Rick Loose ^{[18; 21]}. Lacan's followers propose to consider the nature of addictive behavior through the use of the concept of "Jouissance". Reliance on the "Jouissance" category causes a number of difficulties for many researchers, due to the ambiguity of its interpretation and understanding ^[20]. It should be noted that Lacan also addressed the clarification and revision of the content of this concept several times ^{[6; 7;15]}.

The category "Jouissance" is most often translated as pleasure or enjoyment, which is intertwined with possible dangers for the subject and harm to his life ^[18]. Pleasure at its maximum point will always be associated "with an unbearable level of arousal," therefore, the highest pleasure includes an element of pain, destruction. In this regard, "Jouissance", as a rule, is not translated into other languages in order to preserve all the semantic components of this concept.

In clinical practice, "Jouissance" is actively used to explain why people form addictions to harmful and even life-threatening substances. For example, why they are not able to quit smoking, even if they are diagnosed with lung cancer. Thus, "Jouissance" is interpreted as the pleasure an individual receives from a painful symptom. In the works of Z. Freud, one can see similar arguments about the pleasure that a person experiences in a state of melancholy. "Self-torture in melancholy (which) without a doubt, it gives pleasure: "the melancholic gets a certain satisfaction from self-depreciation" ^[18].

The concept of "Jouissance" is the most important for clinical observations, because it allows us to see why, contrary to any rational arguments, patients so stubbornly hold on to their "attachments" (dependencies) and are willing to pay the highest price for it from the loss of a prestigious career, their relationships with loved ones or even their own lives.

N. Bagdasarova, A. Demilkhanova point out: "Lacan himself did not work much with the category of "dependence", but some ideas allow us to see how it is presented in the works of the researcher" ^[3]. The nature of addiction can be revealed through the binary position of the Other (in this case, we are talking about the position of the Big Other) and the pleasure itself in the form of "Jouissance" ^[16]. The other is always in the social space, in this regard, it is important to see how the subject positions himself relative to social conditions and relative to the social prohibition on obtaining satisfaction and achieving the object of desire (i.e. the Other). Carmella Levy-Stokes in her analysis shows the nature of the dual nature of the relationship with the figure of Another in the personal space of the individual. "Joiiss is connected with the demand to enjoy, coming from the super-ego, the cruel imperative: Enjoy! — which the subject will never be able to satisfy. The super-ego encourages jouissance, but at the same time prohibits it. Freud pointed out the paradoxical functioning of the super-ego, since it secretly feeds on the satisfaction that it demands to give up. The strictness of the super-ego, therefore, turns out to be only a means of achieving jouissance" ^[7]. The social prohibition in Lacan's terminology is "castration", which does not allow achieving "Jouissance".

Another significant point for understanding the nature of addictive behavior is Lacan's idea of the structure of personality. Clarifying the proposed Z. Freud's idea of the nature of neuroses and their differences from perversions, Lacan pays special attention to psychosis. A leading expert on Lacanian texts, Bruce Fink, writes in his research: "Lacan sought to systematize Freud's work in relation to diagnostic criteria, while developing a number of his terminological differences. Freud separated neurosis and perversion in his theory that neurosis is distinguished by repression (Verdr?ngung), whereas the main mechanism of perversion is rejection (Verleugnung). Lacan also pointed out Freud's use of another term, Verwerfung, in the case of more radical mechanisms. This term can be found in various situations in Freud's works, and Lacan suggests (especially through careful reading of Freud's article "Denial" of 1925) to understand it as the main mechanism characteristic of psychosis, and translates it first as "rejection", and later as "forclusion"... Thus, these three main diagnostic categories are structural categories based on three fundamentally different mechanisms, or three fundamentally different forms of negation (Verneinung) ^[13].

Referring to Lacan, Fink gives the following formula of personality structures and mechanisms that underlie them.

For Lacan, Fink continues, there are only these three basic personality structures. At the same time, of course, they have their own subcategories. For example, the subcategories of neurosis are hysteria, phobia and obsession ^{[19, p. 76]}. Each of the three structures solves the question of pleasure differently for itself. In his works, Lacan pays more attention to the psychotic and neurotic structure of personality.

One of Lacan's followers, Rick Luz, in his work "Lacan's approach to clinical diagnosis and addictions" gives the following description of the structure of the relationship between reality and a particular type of personality in the Lacan classification. "All three clinical structures can be presented through positions in language and represent different ways in which subjects manage themselves or orient themselves regarding the perception of themselves through the structure of their own trauma or unmet need. If we can assume the isolation of the clinical structure on the basis of a linguistic construct, without relying on diagnostic data, but based on the concept of the relationship between the subject and the Other, we can talk about the following types: Neurotic, Psychotic and Pervert" ^[21].

Rick Luz builds a review of the phenomenology of addictions by comparing the three clinical structures described by Lacan with the idea of Z. Freud on the existence of the category of "actual neurosis", which can also play an important role in the diagnosis of addictive behavior. "Chemical transformation in a situation of actual neurosis is the fourth form of dependence and it is also a form of dependence that has its own system of relations in conjunction "face to face" with Another. This system of relations is characterized primarily by the independent management of "jouissance", which functions in the space of an unbearable reality, a reality that destroys the subject in a situation of actual neurosis" ^{[21, p. 283]}.

The psychotic structure of the personality (psychotic) is in direct conflict with reality, i.e. it does not recognize the act of castration and, therefore, does not accept social requirements and attitudes. The psychotic lives according to the laws of his own logic. At the same time, his inflated Ego can exist in two possible registers. The real Self either suffers and is attacked, or builds its own empire with total control of both its own life and the lives of others. The psychotic goes ahead to achieve pleasure, and he is not stopped by social prohibitions, he is not ready to wait. Most often, delusional forms of psychosis are recorded – such as megalomania or paranoia. "Pleasure for a psychotic exists a priori, and a person can be suppressed by it. Then there is a schizophrenic (catotonic) form of psychosis. Here we find a close connection between psychosis and addiction" ^{[21, p. 285]}. In another case, "a person may be in a reliable delusion about pleasure under the influence of anxious, jumping thoughts, hallucinations, which can be stopped with the help of psychotropic substances. Addiction acts as a form of pleasure management or a substitute form of self-medication with the help of drugs/alcohol" ^[21].

The neurotic personality structure is characterized by the presence of a large Ego and a powerful, rigid Super-Ego that controls all drives. The neurotic has two possible mechanisms of action to achieve pleasure. To accept the demands of Another (observe social rules), in life it looks like an opportunity to drink alcohol only on holidays or sometimes smoke a hookah in a hookah bar, while not allowing you to fully achieve the desired pleasure. The second option is to transfer the process of obtaining pleasure into the imagination, where it takes on a distorted form (perversions and perversions).

Pervert appears as a passive object of the Other. Pervert acts as a subject only in the space of language, in true reality it is objectified and subordinated to Another, therefore it is deprived of the possibility of achieving true pleasure. "Narcotic substances at the same time perform the function of substitutes for true pleasure, what in the space of the Lacanian text is defined as an "object-cause-of-desire" objectified cause of pleasure, which allows the subject to avoid a problematic encounter with the desire of Another and maintains in him the illusion that he is able to achieve the lost" ^[21]. The language of the neurotic and perverse personality is filled with complaints, demands and requests for relief from suffering. These requirements are directed to Another.

N. Bagdasarova, A. Demilkhanova note: "Despite all the difference in interpretation, the traditional clinical and Lacanian approaches are united by the assumption that addiction is associated with an uncontrolled craving for a certain type of pleasure, and this pleasure in classical cases is interpreted through physiological reactions. This is obvious for dependence on alcohol and psychoactive substances, but it is no less true for gambling addiction, which is associated with the physiology of the brain and the functioning of individual neurotransmitters (in particular, dopamine)" ^[3].

The study by A. Bazan and S. Detand presents data obtained by the American psychoanalyst and neuropsychologist Howard Shevrin, who convincingly proved that the SEEKING system proposed by Panksepp can act as a physiological correlate of the concept of attraction described in the works of Z. Freud ^[18]. So, in particular, Shevrin points out a certain similarity between the basic elements of the SEEKING system and the structures of the Freudian definition of drive and suggests illustrating this with a simple table (Table 1).

The SEEKING system was proposed by Panksepp to describe the mechanisms of formation of "energetic research and search behavior that an animal is capable of: for example, stimulated rats excitedly move, vigorously sniff, stopping from time to time to explore various corners and nooks of their environment," or otherwise: "Desires and needs in human nature are an endless stream" ^[23]. Neurobiological studies have suggested that the structure of hormonal dopamine networks may embody the architecture of the concept of attraction Z. Freud. In this regard, the accumulation of dopamine (DA) in the structures of the striatum serves as a signal of motor action, the more dopamine, the more powerful the action, the overall decrease in dopamine leads to inhibition of action ^[18]. Dopamine networks are part of the general structure of the ventral tegmental area (VTA), this also includes the primary nuclei of a group of neural cells (NAS), which are part of the striatum (basal ganglia); therefore, this system is called NAS-DA ^[23].

Table 1. Parallel comparison of four elements in the Punksepp's "SICKING" system and four parts in Freud's drive concept, proposed by Shevrin (2003) ^[23].

Table 1. Shevrins (2003) proposition of the parallels between the four parts of Panksepps SEEKING system and the four parts of Freuds definition of the drive

Shevrin gives the following description in a parallel comparison of the Pancsepp and Freud models: "The violation of regulated activity in the Pancsepp model underlies specific states of needs, such as hunger, thirst and sex; thus, they correspond to the somatic source of attraction. The achievement of a possible discharge refers to the satisfaction of the underlying state of need, which corresponds to the goal of the Freudian drive. An external stimulus refers to an object that provides satisfaction of a need, and acts as the most variable component of the structure. As for the fourth component, "powerful states of expectation or anticipation", they relate to the general mental activation of the entire NAS-DA organism ^[23].

Referring to the Lacanian category of "jouissance" and the description of the neurophysiological mechanisms that underlie it, Shevrin points out: "to understand the difference between satisfaction/pleasure and "jouissance" in the physiological model, you need to imagine two different systems of body activity. The first satisfaction/pleasure model is formed when the action is completed, when I receive positive reinforcement, is it pure emotion or pure affect. The second model is activated through a system of preliminary expectations or anticipations, which are themselves elements of satisfaction, but not pleasure in the usual sense of the word." What gives us an understanding of the presence of a second activation system of the body, when it spends energy, but does not receive a final positive reward. Developing this idea, A. Bazan and S. Detand note in their research: "If we consider "jouissance" as an equivalent of motor activation, then to the same extent it acts as an equivalent of tension. Indeed, the intention of any action, whether it is an action actually performed or simply imagined, remembered, prepared, anticipated or even prevented, there is a certain increase in muscle tension." Neurophysiological studies conducted by Berridge and Kringelbach have shown that "the behavior activation system (NAS-DA) can be triggered automatically based on self-stimulation and without real final positive reinforcement. What is even more striking is that this is the same neurophysiological system, NAS-DA, which is being considered here, can be formed in a different way ("in a distorted way or, for example, by self-stimulation), as a result of which an overabundance of the body's activity is easily formed up to exhaustion and self-harm" ^[18]. An important conclusion is the idea that "the same vital mechanism underlying the management and determination of adequate actions is also a mechanism that easily forms the path to pathogenic effects" ^[18]. The mesolimbic NAS-DA system is a structure that functions in a constant unstable equilibrium between reward and anxiety, reflecting the fragile boundary between pleasure and pain described for the "jouissance" category.

Summing up their research, A. Bazan and S. Detand describe the functioning of the system in a psychoanalytic way: "Activation of this system (...) sometimes it can act as an unconscious motivational process." In other words, the presence of a stimulus can explain an unconscious representation that unconsciously causes intentional readiness of the body or motor tension – which, in our opinion, is also a highly psychoanalytic idea. Sensitized pathways, neuroadaptations in the desire system are not just located there, but actively form past experience, which has a continuous potential for prompting action, that is, such an action that "does not obey the idea of constant progress." In this system of stimuli, the clinical relationship between need and pleasure is quite direct: whereas the desire system is activated implicitly, it can induce and direct behavior without the need for a person to have conscious emotions, desire or a declared goal ^[17]. Paradoxes of this kind refer to a whole range of clinical behaviors that people persistently adhere to, even if they are neither acceptable, nor reasonable, nor desirable, and even if they are negative or destructive. This is clearly observed in clinics where drug addicts continue to use drugs, while they "report at the same time that they are unhappy, their lives are ruined and that even the drug is not so good anymore." And that they themselves do not understand the reason for their own intense compulsive behavior. "Often an addict describes his behavior simply as an extremely strong craving, which cannot be denied" ^[18]. Thus, pleasure in the form of "jouissance" can be considered as an accumulation of tension in the body, prompting action, but constantly balancing between reward and anxiety, and both marking the history of its memory at the level of the physiology of the body, and an impulse or a constant push to action and repetition arising from this "engram" (record). At the same time, the temezolimbic NAS-DA system can act as the basic physiological architecture of this process.

Conclusions

In our article we have tried to highlight some psychoanalytic approaches to understanding the nature of addictive behavior, which are the most relevant today. The analysis has shown that the most profound and interesting are the studies carried out at the intersection of the psychoanalytic approach with an emphasis on the theory of attachments and neurobiological data describing the formation of neurobiological and physiological mechanisms underlying the formation of a dependent behavior model. Analysis of the language constructions proposed in the concept of Zh. Lacan, allows us to highlight the specifics of the formation of addictive attraction in different types of personality (neurotic, psychotic and pervert) and to trace the nature of the direction of impulsive tendencies in the process of building interaction with the social environment.