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Methadone: magic or madness?
Author(s) -
Mandelberg Tanya
Publication year - 1988
Publication title -
australian drug and alcohol review
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.018
H-Index - 74
eISSN - 1465-3362
pISSN - 0819-5331
DOI - 10.1080/09595238880000411
Subject(s) - ambivalence , covert , methadone , magic (telescope) , psychology , harm reduction , methadone maintenance , social psychology , psychiatry , medicine , nursing , philosophy , linguistics , physics , quantum mechanics , public health
The area of methadone treatment is suffused with ambivalence, conflicts and entanglements of various kinds. This paper attempts to explore some of these as they are experienced by the general community, the Methadone Maintenance Unit and the compulsive drug abuser. The methadone, the linking thread around which these conflicts are mobilised, is discussed in terms of its symbolic embodiment of the overt and covert wishes, fantasies and ambivalences of these three protagonists. Awareness of these issues has implications for program and clinical management.