Is pathological gambling just a big problem or also an addiction?

Problem gambling—a Lacanian Real

“…The hidden and incomprehensible aspect of "addiction" has also been reported by others, for example by Heater and Segal (2014), Rantala andSulkunen (2011), andRoom et al (2015); these researchers did not see it as a Lacanian Real but as a "passion without a name" (a term borrowed from the French semiotician Eric Landowski, 2004), an "akrasia" (the state of acting against one's better judgment), and a "mysterious force," respectively.…”

“…If not, how is this lack of knowledge experienced and handled in households? Although the hidden and incomprehensible aspects of "addictions" have been reported in previous studies (e.g., Heather & Segal, 2015;Rantala & Sulkunen, 2011;Room et al, 2015), they have seldom been the subject of research. However, some explanations have been given.…”

From Boredom to Dependence: The Medicalisation of the Swedish Gambling Problem

“…Psychopathological research in the field also often faces the problem of being mainly confirmatory and rarely exploratory, partly because diagnoses are assumed a priori as providing vital support for further studies (Boudreau, Labrie, & Shaffer, 2009 Furthermore, the problem can be traced to the conceptual level, as the disease concept of misuse is more of a metaphor. In fact, it has been described as an analogy mistaken for a homology (Hellman, Schoenmakers, Nordstrom, & van Holst, 2013;Rantala & Sulkunen, 2012). Psychologist John Booth Davies (1997, p. 50) has labelled it as "the problem of reification, the process whereby a convenient semantic symbol becomes transmuted into an entity which is assumed to have actual existence".…”

“…Psychologist John Booth Davies (1997, p. 50) has labelled it as "the problem of reification, the process whereby a convenient semantic symbol becomes transmuted into an entity which is assumed to have actual existence". But for a number of reasons it is not a very good metaphor: there is a lack of effective medical cures, the aetiology is more or less unknown, most people tend to rehabilitate themselves without external help and prevention methods focus more on availability than on excessive individual use (Rantala & Sulkunen, 2012). In the words of Peter Cohen (2000, p. 590) it seems unreasonable to bring together all behaviours that share "a seemingly involuntary repetitiousness or an unusual centrality in someone's life".…”

Taidelähtöiset menetelmät työyhteisön kehittämisessä. Projektitoiminta uudenlaisen työn peilinä

“…Projektityö kertoo paljon työelämästä, koska verkostomaiset työ-yhteisöt ovat yhä tyypillisempiä projektoituvassa maailmassa (esim. Rantala & Sulkunen, 2006). Eri organisaatioiden yhdessä toteuttama projekti voi antaa esimakua siitä, mitä työelämän tutkijoiden ennustama töiden pirstoutuminen monitoimijaiselle organisaatiolle käytännössä tarkoittaa.…”