Psychanalyse et addictions sans substances

Abstract: This paper tries to answer to the following question: is there a psychoanalytic explanation to drugless addictions? Freud mentions the possibility of a strong attachment to a virtual object (game, sex, ideology) through several papers scattered in his works from 1920 to 1937. The main concept is what we consider nowadays as the concept of “tie”. The “tie” is to be considered as a link between the subject and the object of addiction. The so-called “pathology of the tie” was first described in group analysis by René Kaès then later on extended to the field of addictions. It implies subordination, lack of freedom, narcissism deviation, compulsion of repeat. Actually, addiction may be considered as a fight between Eros and Thanatos, in which Thanatos is always the winner. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]