Title: ”… Then came the realization that I was just like them. That I have a gambling addiction…” This is a qualitative study of four former gamblers and their experience of getting out of the gambling addiction. The study is about how individuals have overcome a gambling addiction. The purpose of this study is to examine the social processes and factors that are of importance when overcoming a gambling addiction. In addition, the study focuses on how individuals experience the change from gambling addiction to a life free of that addiction. In this thesis, I conducted a qualitative study in the form of semi-structured interviews with four former gamblers. The theoretical approach concentrated on Ebaugh’s (1988) role exit theory and Giddens’ (2005) identity formation theory has been used to illustrate the interviewees' experiences of gambling addiction and their identity as addiction free. The study shows that the gambling addiction has brought economic, social and health-related impacts and some of these aspects still exist today. The exit out of a gambling addiction has been a process with different phases and events where the process for some has been incrementally with relapses during the journey. Based on my results, the changing process appears to consist of parallel turning points where different and more significant events give rise to role exit. The study shows the need of continuous social support in combination with gambling association support efforts and the gamblers’ own insight, motivation and freedom of action. It appears that the interviewed have accepted their role that they had left behind and they take careful consideration to the past and the future and try to make more conscious choices and build their new identity. This is done by actions and re- evaluations of themselves and their world. It is based on their lives, by their own choices. However, these choices seem to be limited by conditions that occur in the interaction with the environment, social norms and social situations.

<p>Uppsatsen belyser vägen ur ett självskadande beteende där tre kvalitativa intervjuer har gjorts för att närma sig vändpunktsprocesserna. Även en självbiografisk bok har använts som empiriskt stöd. Syftet är att kunna urskilja hur vägen ut ur ett självskadande beteende kan se ut för olika personer. Det empiriska materialet belyses även utifrån Antonovskys teori om KASAM, Ebaugh Fuchs teori om exitprocesser samt tidigare forskning. De frågeställningar som ligger till grund för uppsatsen är följande: är det möjligt att kunna urskilja en vändpunkt (yttre och inre faktorer)? Vilken betydelse har personer i individens omgivning haft för vägen ut ur ett självskadande beteende? Hur har samhällets insatser hjälpt individen att ta sig ur sitt beteende? De slutsatser som kan konstateras är att det för samtliga intervjudeltagare samt i den självbiografiska boken går att urskilja någon form av vändpunkt. Utifrån de berättelser vi tagit del av kan vi konstatera att vändpunkter kan se väldigt olika ut. Ytterligare en slutsats är att samtliga kvinnor är eniga om att vårdinsatserna är för denna patientgrupp bristfällig eller ibland helt lyser med sin frånvaro. Det viktigaste i intervjudeltagarnas tillfrisknande är deras egen jagstyrka och motivation. Samtliga kvinnor har i dag nya hanteringsstrategier för att klara av livets motgångar och svårigheter.</p> / <p> </p><p>This thesis highlights self-harming behavior and the journey to recovery. To approach the turning point and the following process three qualitative interviews has been done. An autobiographical book has been used as an empirical data. The purpose is to distinguish how the journey to recovery can differ between diverse people. The empirical data has been illustrated by using Antonovskys theory sence of coherence, Ebaugh Fuchs process of roll exit and current research. The issued questions grounding the thesis are: is it possible to distinguish a turning point (outer and inner factors)? How important were the people surrounding the individual to find the way out? And how did society's efforts help the individual out of its behavior? The conclusions that are determined are that with all of the interviewed and the autobiographical book, a turning point can be discerned. From the stories given to us we can determine that the turning points can differ considerably. Yet another conclusion is that all of the women agree that the care effort towards these types of patients is insufficient or even non-existent. The most important part in the recovery of the interviewed is their own strength and motivation. All of these women today have new strategies on how to handle life's adversity and difficulties.</p>

Uppsatsen belyser vägen ur ett självskadande beteende där tre kvalitativa intervjuer har gjorts för att närma sig vändpunktsprocesserna. Även en självbiografisk bok har använts som empiriskt stöd. Syftet är att kunna urskilja hur vägen ut ur ett självskadande beteende kan se ut för olika personer. Det empiriska materialet belyses även utifrån Antonovskys teori om KASAM, Ebaugh Fuchs teori om exitprocesser samt tidigare forskning. De frågeställningar som ligger till grund för uppsatsen är följande: är det möjligt att kunna urskilja en vändpunkt (yttre och inre faktorer)? Vilken betydelse har personer i individens omgivning haft för vägen ut ur ett självskadande beteende? Hur har samhällets insatser hjälpt individen att ta sig ur sitt beteende? De slutsatser som kan konstateras är att det för samtliga intervjudeltagare samt i den självbiografiska boken går att urskilja någon form av vändpunkt. Utifrån de berättelser vi tagit del av kan vi konstatera att vändpunkter kan se väldigt olika ut. Ytterligare en slutsats är att samtliga kvinnor är eniga om att vårdinsatserna är för denna patientgrupp bristfällig eller ibland helt lyser med sin frånvaro. Det viktigaste i intervjudeltagarnas tillfrisknande är deras egen jagstyrka och motivation. Samtliga kvinnor har i dag nya hanteringsstrategier för att klara av livets motgångar och svårigheter. / This thesis highlights self-harming behavior and the journey to recovery. To approach the turning point and the following process three qualitative interviews has been done. An autobiographical book has been used as an empirical data. The purpose is to distinguish how the journey to recovery can differ between diverse people. The empirical data has been illustrated by using Antonovskys theory sence of coherence, Ebaugh Fuchs process of roll exit and current research. The issued questions grounding the thesis are: is it possible to distinguish a turning point (outer and inner factors)? How important were the people surrounding the individual to find the way out? And how did society's efforts help the individual out of its behavior? The conclusions that are determined are that with all of the interviewed and the autobiographical book, a turning point can be discerned. From the stories given to us we can determine that the turning points can differ considerably. Yet another conclusion is that all of the women agree that the care effort towards these types of patients is insufficient or even non-existent. The most important part in the recovery of the interviewed is their own strength and motivation. All of these women today have new strategies on how to handle life's adversity and difficulties.

This study aims to find out how the way out of homelessness can look and be experienced and in what way persons with experience of being homeless might think about our society´s different solutions to this problem. The study is based on five half-structured qualitative interviews with persons who have experience of being homeless. The theoretical perspectives used to analyze the empirism are “Stages of Change” and “The Process of Role Exit”, both dealing with changing processes. Our results show that the way out of homelessness can be long and very hard to achieve, and the change in housing situation can be either a process towards a more and more stable housing or through an opportunity that suddenly appears. Another result shows that people with the experience of being homeless can be negative to the solutions offered by our society but be positive to the idea of Housing First. One conclusion is that a housing of your own can mean more for the individual than just somewhere to sleep. To have a housing of your own can lead to personal development such as trying to get rid of one´s addiction or get better relations with one´s family.