I think the any actual addiction is irrelevant, and I see this as a metaphor (not a direct likeness) for the way addiction can shatter a family. Do I think that Ianto the character is an addict? No. Do I think that Ianto the character is an addictive personality? No. Do I think the story arc as written uses significant elements of an addict in free fall to catch the audience's attention and frame the story in a way that we recognize and understand? Yes.
Does that make more sense?
You're correct in that it could be any kind of mental illness or massive family problem, not just drug or alcohol abuse. Given that Jack and Ianto are probably already in some kind of sexual relationship at this point, it could be incest or rape. Like I said, I don't think the actual issue is relevant, but that the overall profound effect on the family is exactly the same, and to a large degree Ianto's behaviour is exactly the same.
Manipulation, deceit, hiding the addiction (or incest or mental illness), unable or unwilling to accept consequences of one's own actions, cognitive distortion (in this case, looking at a cyberwoman and being convinced she's still his Lisa), magnification, denial...we see all of this in Cyberwoman, and we see the profound effects it has on the team. Their trust in Ianto is shattered. It pits one member of the family against the others. It pushes Gwen into a tailspin that ends with her in Owen's bed in Countrycide. In terms of the greater story arc for S1, the team acts reasonably functional until Cyberwoman, and then it blows them apart. They don't come back together again as a fully functioning unit until End of Days. There are bits where you see them starting to come back together--the scene where Mary has Tosh with a knife against her neck in GBG comes to mind--but then something else happens that pushes them apart again.
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I think the any actual addiction is irrelevant, and I see this as a metaphor (not a direct likeness) for the way addiction can shatter a family. Do I think that Ianto the character is an addict? No. Do I think that Ianto the character is an addictive personality? No. Do I think the story arc as written uses significant elements of an addict in free fall to catch the audience's attention and frame the story in a way that we recognize and understand? Yes.
Does that make more sense?
You're correct in that it could be any kind of mental illness or massive family problem, not just drug or alcohol abuse. Given that Jack and Ianto are probably already in some kind of sexual relationship at this point, it could be incest or rape. Like I said, I don't think the actual issue is relevant, but that the overall profound effect on the family is exactly the same, and to a large degree Ianto's behaviour is exactly the same.
Manipulation, deceit, hiding the addiction (or incest or mental illness), unable or unwilling to accept consequences of one's own actions, cognitive distortion (in this case, looking at a cyberwoman and being convinced she's still his Lisa), magnification, denial...we see all of this in Cyberwoman, and we see the profound effects it has on the team. Their trust in Ianto is shattered. It pits one member of the family against the others. It pushes Gwen into a tailspin that ends with her in Owen's bed in Countrycide. In terms of the greater story arc for S1, the team acts reasonably functional until Cyberwoman, and then it blows them apart. They don't come back together again as a fully functioning unit until End of Days. There are bits where you see them starting to come back together--the scene where Mary has Tosh with a knife against her neck in GBG comes to mind--but then something else happens that pushes them apart again.