Disappearing into crack to survive: a phenomenological and psychopathological clinical approach to crack addiction

The aim of this article is to try to put together the different experiences and symptoms experienced in crack addiction, to try to make sense of it, and to link this clinical practice or situate it in relation to certain writings on addiction and precariousness. This clinical approach to crack users is divided into several parts. The first describes the particular temporal experience of some crack users, with its combination of instant rush and discontinuity. The second part will focus on the phenomenon of disappearance and dissolution in the crack scene and the accompanying process of disaffiliation. Then we will look at the loss of subjectivity and shame associated with crack addiction and cases of psychosocial suffering. Finally, we will look at the impact of this particular clinical practice on the workers and carers supporting these users, who have no time, many expectations and needs, and yet strive to owe no one anything, and who may present more or less labile psychiatric pictures.