Nordic Studies on Alcohol and Drugs has published a thematic issue: Images and theories of addiction
The latest issue of NAD stems from the work of the international research consortium ‘Theories of addiction and images of addictive behaviours’ and its continuation, the Helsinki Centre for the Study of Addiction, Control and Governance (CEACG). The research reports of the issue offer insights into theoretical conceptualisations and images of addiction. The approaches employed include historical and philosophical reflections, quantitative and qualitative analysis of professional and lay perceptions, as well as inquiries into images of addiction in popular culture. Apart from the theoretical value, the articles provide food for thought at the most pragmatic level. Given the lack of consensus over addiction issues, the views that various stakeholders and lay people have, for example, on the causes of and the solutions to addiction problems may also bear upon the arrangement of treatment systems and policy measures.
In the introduction to the thematic issue Pekka Sulkunen argues for the relevance of integrating the social sciences into the addiction debate. He proposes the concept of “geography” to overcome the difficulties in using “national cultures” as a point of reference in comparative studies not only in the addiction field.
http://www.degruyter.com/view/j/nsad.2013.30.issue-1-2/nsad-2013-0002/nsad-2013-0002.xml?format=INT
In his article, Arto Ruuska discusses European medical thought on alcohol in the late 18th and early 19th centuries. Earlier historiography has identified the era as the starting point of individualising disease concept of alcohol addiction. Ruuska argues that the era’s proper legacy is rather the establishment of alcohol-related phenomena as objects of empirical inquiry, and – contrary to the claims made in the historiography of the ‘disease concept of addiction’ – the articulation of socio-cultural embeddedness of alcohol-related pathologies.
http://www.degruyter.com/view/j/nsad.2013.30.issue-1-2/nsad-2013-0003/nsad-2013-0003.xml?format=INT
Susanne Uusitalo, Mikko Salmela and Janne Nikkinen provide a philosophical critique of the disease concept addiction and its influential rival, the rational choice model. Instead they propose what they call an ‘affective choice model’ as an alternative to both.
http://www.degruyter.com/view/j/nsad.2013.30.issue-1-2/nsad-2013-0004/nsad-2013-0004.xml?format=INT
In their research report based on survey data, Eva Samuelsson, Jan Blomqvist and Irja Christophs discuss the views of Swedish social services, health care and criminal care professionals on addictions. The authors argue that the professionals’ understanding on the severity of different addictions is to a major extent in line with the perceptions that lay people have and the media cherish in Sweden.
http://www.degruyter.com/view/j/nsad.2013.30.issue-1-2/nsad-2013-0005/nsad-2013-0005.xml?format=INT
Michael Egerer compares Finnish and French social workers’ perceptions of problem drinking, gambling and eating. Based on qualitative analysis of focus-group interviews, he shows how the traditional way to handle addictions, the institutional context of the professionals and the country-specific value climate create a particular understanding of the three problems with gambling diverting most.
http://www.degruyter.com/view/j/nsad.2013.30.issue-1-2/nsad-2013-0006/nsad-2013-0006.xml?format=INT
Tanja Hirschovits-Gerz scrutinizes Finnish lay understanding on the obstacles to recovery from addictions. The obstacles to recovery are located in the individual and substances and not so much in socio-cultural factors.
http://www.degruyter.com/view/j/nsad.2013.30.issue-1-2/nsad-2013-0007/nsad-2013-0007.xml?format=INT
Varpu Rantala analyses the visualisation of non-substance based addictions – sex, gambling and shopping – in contemporary American cinema. She shows that the analysed movies emphasise intimacy and exploration of the self, which are central to the modern strategies of managing addiction problems.
http://www.degruyter.com/view/j/nsad.2013.30.issue-1-2/nsad-2013-0008/nsad-2013-0008.xml?format=INT
Using the methods of thematic qualitative analysis and narratology, Atte Oksanen analyses how addiction and rehabilitation are portrayed in the autobiographies of female rock stars. The narratives take the form of survival stories that reflect the challenges that women have traditionally had to face in the male-dominated rock world.
http://www.degruyter.com/view/j/nsad.2013.30.issue-1-2/nsad-2013-0009/nsad-2013-0009.xml?format=INT
R. Yates
Senior Research Fellow
Scottish Addiction Studies
School of Applied Social Science
University of Stirling
Scotland
T: +44 (0) 1786-467737
F: +44 (0) 1786-466299
W: http://www.dass.stir.ac.uk/sections/showsection.php?id=4 (home)
W: http://www.drugslibrary.stir.ac.uk/ (online library)
W: http://roryyates.bandcamp.com (Wrestling With Demons: Four Songs of Addiction & Recovery)
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