Alcoholism, a contagious disease. A contribution towards an anthropological definition of contagion.
The goal of this article is to show, from the discourses of drinkers' spouses, members of a "cured-drinkers" movement in France very different from the AA, what the idea of the contagious character of alcoholism means in the subjects' representations and by extension, what the idea of contagion may contain when seen from an anthropological perspective. This work rests on the observation that many people consider that their spouse's alcoholism makes them sick, and tend to identify with the sick person by finding effects of alcoholism on their own bodies. The notion of contagion qualifies here the perception of the impact of the other's sickness on oneself, by physical and social proximity to the drinker, insofar as the conditions for contagion to be possible include not only sharing the same physical (domestic) space, but also the existence of a social bond.
Fainzang
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National Institute of Health and Medical Research, INSERM, Paris.
D000163:Acquired Immunodeficiency Syndrome / Q000523:psychology / Q000635:transmission; D000437:Alcoholism / Q000523:psychology* / Q000534:rehabilitation; D000884:Anthropology, Cultural; D017004:Codependency, Psychological; D005260:Female; D005602:France; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008393:Marriage; D012803:Sick Role; D012931:Social Environment; D018454:Spouses / Q000523:psychology*; D013587:Syphilis / Q000523:psychology / Q000635:transmission