This thesis, written in novel form, is a study in love addiction. Set in Seoul, South Korea, it follows the journey of Colton Nash — a journalist and a drunk — as he falls in love with a girl named Hana and travels along his arc of addiction. A work of “dirty realism,” Soju: A Novel is written in a neo-minimalistic style that focuses on showing, not telling the reader about Colton's experiences as a stranger in a strange land. By eliminating as many “thought” verbs as possible and focusing on active, bouncing, vivid verbs, the aim was to pull the reader into Colton's world. A world foreign to most readers. This cannot be accomplished by using active verbs alone. No. Limiting the amount of adverbs, extended metaphors and internal dialogue, being economical with words, focusing on surface details and “on-the-body” writing were all stylistic choices made to engage the reader on a more visceral level and, hopefully, pull them deeper into the story and Colton's addiction.

Föreliggande studie hade som syfte att öka kunskapen om kärleksberoende som fenomen. Studiens frågeställningar berörde hur ett kärleksberoende yttrar sig samt om det går att likställa med andra beroendeformer. Semistrukturerade intervjuer genomfördes med tio kvinnor vilka definierade sig själva som kärleksberoende. Intervjumaterialet analyserades tematiskt och resulterade i fyra teman; Relationernas karaktär, Likheter med andra beroenden, Riskfaktorer samt Tillfrisknande. Resultatet visade att studiens deltagare hade ett tvångsmässigt förhållande till destruktiva relationer. De beroendeframkallande mekanismerna som framkom var framförallt förälskelse och romantiska och dramatiska spel i en kärleksrelation. Vidare fanns en kongruens mellan kriterierna för kärleksberoende och de för andra beroendeformer (DSM-IV-TR, 2000), det var dock omöjligt att utesluta alternativa förklaringar till benägenheten att ha destruktiva kärleksrelationer. Ett anknytningsteoretiskt perspektiv applicerades på studiens resultat och påvisade ett samband mellan otrygg anknytning till primära anknytningspersoner i barndomen och utvecklandet av kärleksberoende i vuxen ålder. Ökad forskning om kärleksberoende krävs för att anpassa diagnostik för denna grupp samt ge bättre tillgång till samhällets stödinsatser.

This work is the presentation of a personal philosophy. Form of video addresses the issues of themes: love, addiction, future, suicide, transience. It is processed with a digital camera in full HD format. I offer no solutions to problems, I displaying only subjective reality.

This book is an attempt to formulate a sociological theory of the phenomena which is otherwise known as substance abuse and substance dependency in the medical field. The first step toward such a theory is a critique of how DSM-IV presents diagnostic criteria for substance abuse and substance dependency as if these criteria are valid and reliable ways of measuring mental illness and bodily dysfunction. I point to the fact that these criteria neither are valid or reliable variables for measurement nor theoretically grounded defi nitions of the phenomena. My point is that diagnosis is an elaborate way of disguising moral judgments as medical assessments of illness or dysfunction. The second step towards the formulation of my theory goes via my empirical study of nine men and women who call themselves sex and love addicts. By conducting deep interviews with them I conclude that it is impossible to talk about sex and love addiction without constantly referring to stereotypes and widely held assumptions of alcoholics and drug addicts. Moreover it is apparent that these men and women are making moral judgments about themselves rather than pointing to some form of genuine disruption which they cannot control. From my critique and my empirical study I am able to identify a number of areas that a theory of addiction, as opposed to the medical view where this phenomena are being broken down in two sub categories (abuse and dependency), must be able to handle to explain addiction generally and specifically in relation to alcohol, drugs, sex and other forms of social deviance. A number of philosophical hallmarks of medicine is also identifi ed and seen as part of the problem, therefore I mean that a successful theory of addiction must transcend the mind body dualism of Descartes as it is a cornerstone in the medical view upon and understanding of humans. By reconstructing the habitus and field concepts in Pierre Bourdieus theory of practice I mean that it is possible to understand addiction from an action theory point of view. This discussion is also broadened by a pragmatist discussion of the mind and a neo meadian theory of the emotional self. My conclusion is that addiction can be understood and explained within an action theory which focus upon individual as well as collective action and understand this as habitual practice that is partly embodied and therefore not discursive – habits of which we cannot easily speak is seen as one of the compelling components in addiction rather than a mythical loss of control which is nowhere to be found but as a rhetoric grip stemming from the AA view upon addiction as a disease.