Experimental arguments for employing a client-focused therapeutic approach in nicotine addiction
Experimental arguments for employing a client-focused therapeutic approach in nicotine addiction

Summary/Abstract: Abstract. This paper is comprised of four studies that aim to offer empirical support to Freudian and Lacanian theories on addictions on samples of female nicotine addicts. The two authors argue (as summarized by Loose in 2002) that the individuals who had relational issues with their main caregiver in their preverbal stages of development did not acquire the ability to obtain satisfaction in social interactions due to their poor relational skills; this increases their propensity toward becoming addicts, because addiction is seen as a manner of circumventing the other in the process of obtaining satisfaction. Our results support these theoretical claims regarding nicotine addiction in women. The implications of our findings suggest that therapeutic interventions for nicotine addicts should be focused on the individual rather than the object of the addiction itself, as the individual etiology of nicotine addiction seems to vary from one addict to another according to their previous experiences in attachment relationships.

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