The aim of this study has been to take part of six ex-alcohol addicts? narratives about their lives with starting-point in which factors that has been significant and/or determining to be able to leave a life in abuse and what change this process has implied for their identity. To achieve the purpose with this study has three questions been formulated. These are what in the person?s life have been important in the process of a life free from alcohol, what were specific and decisive that effected the decision to stop using alcohol and what is the attitude to them self and their new role as an ex-alcohol addict. Alcohol is a drug that is legal and accepted in the society and it´s hard to discover an addiction.

The purpose of this study is to understand and analyze why individuals develop and manage to leave drug abuse. The material consists of interviews with eight individuals who have gone through a life of addiction and managed to change their lifestyle. We contacted the participants through the organization called KRIS (Criminals Redress with Society). The results indicate that the participants have had a troublesome upbringing and been labeled by society as outsiders which have led them into addiction. The results also show that they have all gone through a social conversion from the life as an addict to become sober.

The aim of this study is to take note of  social worker´s views on opiate addiction and medication-assisted treatment. The definition of social workers in this paper, is people who are involved with individuals  who have an opiate addiction and have therefore been in contact with drug assisted treatment. Data was collected through interviews with social workers. The interviews were based on an interview questionnaire on four explicit themes: Motivation, Medical Assisted Treatment (LA) Other complementary treatment and expenses and its meanings. These are analyzed and discussed through the theory of harm reduction and the theory of labeling..

 The purpose of this study was to study social work models to explain addiction in the assessment of response to people with addictions. This study investigated how social workers' explanations are shaped by their experiences, theoretical points influenced by research in a discretion is affected by organizational conditions, manuals, evidence-based practice and national guidelines in an investigative process. The material in this study has emerged through interviews with four social workers in the social services department for addiction and dependence. The essay is a qualitative study with personal interviews as the basis for the result. The study begins with a description of addiction and dependence, current laws on the matter, and officer's work.

In Sweden approximately ten percent of all children grows up in a family where at least one parent is having an alcohol related addiction. Since 1998 the development of group activities for children in this situation has been immense. The aim of group activities is to break the child's isolation and make them feel that they are not lonely in their experiences, give them knowledge about addiction and relive the pressure of guilt and responsibility.In a comparative study we examined studied how two different group activity models one with the conception of illness and one without, use the children's network to support the group process. The aim was also to find each models definition of the "normal family", since we understood the groupactivity as a part in the normalization process. We reached our aim through interviews with group leaders and by literature studies.

Title:What influences the assessment of addiction treatment? - Factors that may affect thechoice of interventionsThere are few studies on trauma and the importance of religion for the professional handlingof abuse clients in a Swedish context. It is therefore appropriate to examine the role of suchfactors. This study examines whether experienced trauma in childhood or religious beliefsinfluence the assessment and selection of input in fictitious cases. To examine this created sixvignettes.

For many individuals gambling gives an opportunity for relaxation and social relations. The positive effects of gambling are for most individual?s considerable more than the negative effects. Even if gambling gives positive effects there is individuals that cannot control there gambling and therefore develop an addiction which disturb there life situation and health. The aim of this study was to describe which personal characteristics distinguish people with a pathological gambling and which psychological, physical and social consequences this pathological gambling causes for the individual.

Gender in Administrative Court of Appeal - A discourse analysis of verdicts concerning compulsory drug treatmentThe purpose of this study was to examine gender discourses that could be identified inverdicts concerning compulsory drug treatment. A discourse analysis was conducted of 46verdicts from an administrative court of appeal, located in central Sweden. The main findingsof the study was that the descriptions of women, more often than men, are based on factorsother than their addiction, such as appearance and social environment. Men are in all casesdescribed by their addiction and on their own behavior. Women are presented as they riskvulnerability, while men are presented already suffer from vulnerability.

This study examines the opinions of social workers regarding the social networks of people with a substance addiction. The intention was to get a more nuanced understanding of what characterizes a positive or negative social network, as well as which functions different types of social networks serve. Data were collected through qualitative interviews with seven social workers. More specifically the social workers were oriented towards working for social services with clients that struggle with substance abuse. The empirical material has been analyzed with a thematic analysis.

This is a qualitative study where the purpose was to investigate what professionals experience to be the reason for an individual to become addicted to gambling and continues to gamble even though it leads to negative consequences. The purpose was also to investigate what the professionals experienced was of importance for an individual to recover from a gambling addiction. The study was based on qualitative semi-structured interviews with knowledgeable individuals in the field. The main findings of the study were that the motivation for individuals with a gambling problem to continue gamble was that they saw gambling as the solution to their problems by winning back lost money. It was common that gambling was an escape from anxiety, guilt, shame, and other gambling-related problems such as financial liabilities.

Contents:The evolution of today?s computer influenced society has taken giant steps towards virtual reality, game addictions and the possibility of not having to meet the people we communicate with. What is a reality today?To give a more concrete image of our question we?ve chosen the online game World of Warcraft as an example and to describe our connection to an alternative reality. We have performed different investigations, interviewed both gamers and non gamers, all this to give us the opportunity to see if the term reality has started to change in a direction that will allow us to call this alternative world a reality, or if it?s just a world wide phenomena of for example gaming addiction.

The purpose of this paper was to examine how clients on the unit for adults at Södemalms district administration (Stockholm, Sweden) with severe mental illness and substance abuse differs from other clients with substance abuse at the baseline and at follow-up one year later. We have used a quantitative method and analyzed material from ASI-interviews performed at the adult drug abuse unit at Södermalm during the time period 2002-2010. At the baseline the clients with substance abuse and co-occurring severe mental illness have more problems than other clients, primarily in the area of mental health. They spend more time alone and are more likely to engage in illegal activities. Interviewers assess their situation as more serious and that they need more help in all of ASI's areas of life than other clients.

ABSTRACTStandardized assessment instruments have increasingly come to be used in social work. Although national studies of ASI and DOK's reliability and validity has only been examined to a limited extent. In order to improve knowledge of assessment instruments conditions, relevance and scope, this present literature study highlights the background and the application of the interview methods ASI and DOK, used in swedish abuse and dependent care. In answering the survey questions, a qualitative content analytical method has been used. ASI and DOK are multidimensional interviews which take into account that several areas affecting the client's treatment outcome.

Ever since the birth of the film medium, stories about drugs and addiction have been produced. There is a fascination with the lifestyle, the effects of drugs and the ways in which it can be portrayed on the screen. The thesis starts off by giving an historical context, ranging from the late 19th Century and up until today, describing how the society and the public have treated the subject and how the narrative mirrors these attitudes. The purpose of the thesis is to take a closer look at this recurrent theme. Eleven fictional films produced between the 1980?s and 2000?s have been chosen and psychoanalytical film theory is used to analyze the ways in which the addict is represented; how filmic disgust and the abject makes the characters tread over physical and social boundaries and how the effect of the drug have the character tread over mental boundaries through dreams and hallucinations..

The aim of this study is to gain an increased knowledge and deeper understanding of compulsive gambling and its consequences in today?s society. Gambling addiction will be described and analysed by a selection of experts, therapists and people with an addictive gambling background. The basis of the empirical research has been undertaken by a qualitative design with interviews consisting of three fundamental themes. The research group of eight participants included four gamblers, two therapists and two specialists.