The Oedipal Loop: Substance Abusers vs. "Royalty"
The psychologies of substance abuse and of royalty may seem on one level to be worlds apart. One is, after all, literally on top of things by law, decree, and birth-the other only gets "to the top" in an illusory world created by reliance on the drug of choice. But upon closer examination, especially in the play Oedipus the King, the mindset of the substance abuser and that of a misguided monarch turn out to be similar in an almost uncanny number of ways.
It has been said that Oedipus is above all a "victim." He is a victim of fate; of the machinations of people around him; of a curse. Similarly, many people in the web of substance abuse consider themselves "victims" of their addiction. However, this sort of view of both King and addict is something of an oversimplification. In both cases, the sense of victimization springs from a distorted reality: the addict begins with a grandiose belief that he/she is responsible for "saving the world." As one contemporary psychologist puts it:


[. . . ]you're a victim "of the first water" then. You're responsible for the behavior of everybody in the world; and they're not doing it. You're playing the ultimate victim role then. (http://www.marshasummers.com/innerman/victim.htm)


Oedipus echoes that belief over and over in his proclamations; in fact, he not only assumes grandiosity of influence, he asserts...

(http://classics.mit.edu/Sophocles/oedipus.pl.txt, 2)

Oedipus can be forgiven for a bit of grandiosity, as a reigning monarch with all around him reaffirming his importance. However, his grandiosity quickly turns to another aspect of substance-abuse behavior: paranoia and its companion, "blame-throwing." Rare is the substance abuser who at first doesn't blame someone else for "driving [him] to drink" or the like-even though that is simply not an accurate picture:


While some people may be born with an inherited tendency toward addiction, and some life experiences may make it more or less likely, neither genes nor experiences alone cause addiction. Rather, the path to drug use, abuse, and addiction are actions that the substance abuser chooses. Simply stated, the addiction is the result of a series of bad choices made by the substance abuser. (http://www.coaf.org/Kinship/SAyourfault.htm)


Oedipus's paranoia asserts itself most dramatically when he is confronted by Teiresias and told that he, in fact, is the problem. He first insults the prophet, then assumes a conspiracy between…