Current writing and research on addiction recovery is inconclusive about what is effective in promoting recovery from alcoholism and drug addiction. This thesis focuses on the narrative commentaries of people currently in recovery in an effort to determine what elements may be common among them that promote and sustain their recovery conditions. In depth interviews were conducted with eight individuals who offered personal details about their addictions and their recovery. Analysis of their narratives reveals a variety of thematic conditions related to the maintenance of sobriety and other personal goals.

Relapse is the single greatest barrier to recovery from addiction. Long-term memories for drug experience and associated contextual cues can provoke craving and resumption of drug use, particularly when a reminder of a highly charged context is encountered. In this thesis, three key questions related to the maintenance of long-term memory for drug-associated contexts are addressed: (1) Are Pavlovian conditioned associations between cocaine experience and the context in which it occurred maintained in long-term memory after extended periods of abstinence? (2) Are regions of the mesocorticolimbic circuitry, namely the nucleus accumbens and amygdala, differentially activated by retrieval of Pavlovian conditioned associations as time passes after cocaine experience? (3) Do neurons of the nucleus accumbens and amygdala show changes in dendritic architecture that reflect the impact of chronic cocaine exposure, which may underlie the maintenance of Pavlovian and/or instrumental drug-conditioned associations? Results confirm that Pavlovian conditioned memory for a cocaine-associated context is maintained in the long-term, becoming increasingly resilient over time. However, maintenance of these contextual associations is not accompanied by gross changes in dendritic architecture in neurons of the nucleus accumbens or amygdala within the timeframe examined. Nonetheless, these brain regions, along with the prefrontal cortex, are differentially activated by retrieval of Pavlovian conditioned associations after brief versus extended periods of abstinence. Together, these results emphasize a distinct contribution of Pavlovian memory processes, beyond instrumental and operant drug memory processes, in the long-term maintenance of addiction.

"Verslawingsparadigmas en die Implikasies vir Hulpverlening - 'n Pastorale Studie" is a doctoral dissertation which looks at different addiction paradigms and how each of these paradigms have implications for the type of care that will be given to people with addictions. The study was done in line with classical Reformed theology. Biblical perspectives were formulated as. a measuring tool for judging addiction paradigms and methods of caring for people with additions. A few texts on drunkenness in the Bible were researched exegetically and according to the revelation history. Literature study as well as a study of Scriptures were done on Biblical and non-Biblical addiction paradigms and methods of care. The information gathered in previous chapters, the literature study as well as the study of Scriptures were consolidated to develop a method of care to ensure that people with addictions and their loved ones are helped in a profound, Scripture-based way. / Thesis (Ph.D. (Pastoral))--North-West University, Potchefstroom Campus, 2009.

Current writing and research on addiction recovery is inconclusive about what is effective in promoting recovery from alcoholism and drug addiction. This thesis focuses on the narrative commentaries of people currently in recovery in an effort to determine what elements may be common among them that promote and sustain their recovery conditions. In depth interviews were conducted with eight individuals who offered personal details about their addictions and their recovery. Analysis of their narratives reveals a variety of thematic conditions related to the maintenance of sobriety and other personal goals.

"Verslawingsparadigmas en die Implikasies vir Hulpverlening - 'n Pastorale Studie" is a doctoral dissertation which looks at different addiction paradigms and how each of these paradigms have implications for the type of care that will be given to people with addictions. The study was done in line with classical Reformed theology. Biblical perspectives were formulated as. a measuring tool for judging addiction paradigms and methods of caring for people with additions. A few texts on drunkenness in the Bible were researched exegetically and according to the revelation history. Literature study as well as a study of Scriptures were done on Biblical and non-Biblical addiction paradigms and methods of care. The information gathered in previous chapters, the literature study as well as the study of Scriptures were consolidated to develop a method of care to ensure that people with addictions and their loved ones are helped in a profound, Scripture-based way. / Thesis (Ph.D. (Pastoral))--North-West University, Potchefstroom Campus, 2009.

Many people seek out supports for addiction treatment and recovery. Communities are committed to providing addictions facility beds to individuals struggling with substance use. However, there is limited understanding of the experiences of people who move through these beds. The purpose of this research is to explore the experiences of individuals accessing addictions facility beds, including the process of coming to a facility, being in the facility, windows and doors to recovery, discharge, and follow up care. Interpretive descriptive methodology was used to guide this study. Eight qualitative interviews were completed with people who self-identified as having problematic substance use and were admitted to any addictions facility in the past six months. The interviews were analyzed using the grounded theory method of constant comparative methods of analysis. The five themes generated in this research were understanding individuals as the experts of their care; challenges in gaining access to supports; systemic issues, including knowing what to expect and flexibility; gaining insight into personal challenges and successes; and present experiences and expectations affecting future encounters. Understanding individual experiences of the process of accessing supports can be of great value in future planning and development, and making the available resources as effective as possible. The findings of this research may be useful in five ways. First, this research is directly useful to those working with individuals who have problematic substance use through helping them understand the experiences of their clients. Second, this research is useful for planning the delivery of services to individuals who have problematic substance use. Third, this research is indirectly useful to anyone negatively affected by problematic substance use, through the potential to improve supports. Fourth, this research contributes to the profession of nursing by building on and strengthening nursing care offered to individuals. Fifth, and last, this research contributes to the wider base of literature regarding what is known about caring for individuals with substance use. / Graduate

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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.

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