Lacan and Addiction

Yael Baldwin is a psychologist, associate professor of psychology, and chair of social sciences at Mars Hill University, North Carolina. She is a member of the Affiliated Psychoanalytic Workgroups, a co-editor of 'Lacan and Addiction: An Anthology', and the author of various anthology chapters and articles on Lacan. Kareen Malone is a member of Apres-Coup in New York City. She is professor of psychology at the University of West Georgia and director of the Doctoral Program. A fellow of the American Psychological Association, Professor Malone has co-edited two volumes on Lacanian Psychoanalysis. She trained with Groupe Interdisciplinaire Freudienne pour Recherches et d'Interventions Clinique et Culturelles. She is author and co-author of numerous articles on Lacanian psychoanalysis and critical psychology. She is 2010 President of Division 24 of the American Psychological Association. Thomas Svolos is a psychoanalyst and psychiatrist, and a Member of the New Lacanian School and the World Association of Psychoanalysis. He practices in Omaha, Nebraska, where he also serves as Professor and Chair of Psychiatry at the Creighton University School of Medicine.

'For those for whom Lacan is a purely philosophical writer (and an obscure one at that) this exciting collection will be a revelation. The relation it establishes between abstract Lacanian concepts and concrete clinical life-problems (in this case addiction) enhances our understanding in both directions and gives a vivid sense of Lacan's thought as a diagnostic instrument.'- Fredric Jameson, Duke University, USA'This collection of essays by leading Lacanian psychoanalysts and clinicians brings new insight to the understanding and treatment of addiction. The articles here do not only show how fixation, addiction, and substance abuse are to be explained. They also explore, in what is new terrain for psychoanalysts, the increasingly apparent links that eating disorders such as bulimia and anorexia have with other forms of addiction. Very relevant to clinicians, these stimulating and provocative essays also have the added interest of addressing the social and cultural place of addiction in contemporary society.'- Russell Grigg, Deakin University, Australia'This carefully prepared compilation is an excellent reference text for clinicians interested in approaching the Lacanian psychoanalytic perspective regarding the treatment of those complaining of "addictions". Unlike other clinical perspectives that treat anyone and everyone with so-called addictions in the same way, the Lacanian approach emphasizes the singularity of each and every speaking being in the way in which the subject may be troubled by their use of some substance. The authors are able to demonstrate, from different angles, how the relationship of a subject with an object (be it drugs, alcohol, or others) may lead to what is called addiction in the mental health field today. It is on the basis of the subject's unique relationship with the substance that a psychoanalytic treatment may develop, as we see demonstrated in the numerous clinical cases and vignettes in this collection.'- Alicia Arenas, member of the World Association of Psychoanalysis

• Introduction , Modern symptoms and their effects as forms of administration: a challenge to the concept of dual diagnosis and to treatment , New uses of drugs , Knows no’s nose , Brief comments on Rolf Flor’s case presentation , Introducing the “New Symptoms” , Comments on “Introducing the ‘New Symptoms’” , Bulimia: between phobia and addiction , Two people in a room: ethnographers, unruly subjects, and the pleasures of addiction , “Toxicomanic” passion for an object: the sexual relation exists , The colour of emptiness: addiction and the drive , Leverage of the letter in the emergence of desire: a case of addiction , Lost objects: repetition in Kierkegaard, Lacan, and the clinic , Bulimia, anxiety, and the demand of the Other , Response: Bulimia, anxiety, and the demand of the Other , Addictions, sexual identity, and our times , Speech, language, and savoir in the Lacanian clinic of addiction , Response to Christopher Meyer , Afterword