Archetypal foundations of addiction and recovery

Addiction recovery takes place at an archetypal level. This is quite visible in the formulation of the twelve steps of AA which refer to forces in illness and recovery, e.g., a take-over by the addictive substances or process that renders one's life unmanageable and often devastated and the strong need to be in relation to a higher power for restoration of one's life. Many people respond to recovery programmes without getting into their individual psychology per se, but a number can benefit from analytic therapy which recognizes the archetypal level of psychic life. For those individuals analysis in conjunction with AA twelve step programmes can facilitate recovery, even as recovery facilitates analysis.