A Mode of Existence on the Edge of Discourse: The Singularity, Subjectivity, and Relationality of Drug Addiction

Date

2026-1-30

Author

Altundağ, Ece

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This study aims to focus on the subject of addiction and examine the subject’s own discourse on drug addiction, abstinence, and treatment. For this aim, the expressions of the subjects’ fundamental fantasy while speaking about drug addiction, abstinence and treatment concepts were paid attention; the speech about the “low” and the “high” of the drug of choice was examined; and return of the repressed material in the discourses of participants was focused. Semi-structured interviews were conducted with five participants who have/had drug addiction symptom and have/had treatment/psychotherapy for it; the interviews were audio-recorded, transcribed without punctuation, and analyzed using Lacanian Discourse Analysis. The theoretical elements of the method were followed and the speech-texts were analyzed by focusing on formal qualities of text, unique metaphors and signifiers, patterns of relating to others and the Other, attribution of knowledge, and points of coherence-disruption. Findings of this analysis yielded five main-headings such as “Subject Positions: How to Exist Under the Gaze of the Other,” “Signifiers Related to Paternal Function and Phantasm,” “Lack: Love & Phallus,” “Reconstruction of Signification: A Path for Sinthome,” and “The One Supposed to Know – Better!”. The findings were interpreted and discussed in light of the relevant literature. Finally, clinical implications were suggested and thoughts for future studies were shared.

Subject Keywords

Psychoanalysis, drug addiction, abstinence, addiction treatment, Lacanian discourse analysis

URI

https://hdl.handle.net/11511/118379

Collections

Graduate School of Social Sciences, Thesis