Alcohol and loneliness: In my solitude

AuthorsIsabelle Boulze-Launay is senior lecturer in clinical psychopathology and research director at the Paul Valéry University of Montpellier, France, foundation member of the Collaborative University Platform for prevention and therapy program evaluation (CEPS), and co-director of the Master’s in Clinical Psychopathology and Psychoanalysis. She is also a clinical psychologist with the University Hospital of Nîmes in addiction services. Her research questions why and how the “work of illness” in addiction and somatic illness changes the lived experience of the relationship to the body, to time, and to others. Her qualitative approach contextualizes the “work of illness” as a function of the nature of the session (prevention, care, patients’ associations, etc.) and moments of the encounter (during and in follow-up). She has numerous local and national responsibilities, for example, board member and vice-president of the scientific commission of the National Association of Prevention in Alcoholism and Addiction (NAPAA), and member of the Management Council of SIRIC (Integrated Cancer Research Center), Montpellier.
Correspondence: Dr Isabelle Boulze-Launay, Epsylon Laboratory, Dynamics of Human Abilities and Health Behaviours, University of Montpellier 1–3, Espace Saint Charles, Rue du Professeur Henri Serre, 34000 Montpellier, France. E-mail:

Alain Rigaud is an honorary hospital psychiatrist, former director of the addictology division of the public Mental Health Hospital, Marne, and honorary president of the National Association of Prevention in Alcoholism and Addiction (NAPAA). Having practiced psychiatry since 1975 and in parallel trained in psychoanalysis, he has from his first years of practice met people with problematic alcohol behavior and/or other addictive behaviors, and dedicated his work more particularly to their care and to the study of addictions. His specific training and practice have engaged him in clinical work at the crossroads of medicine, addictology, psychoanalysis, and the dynamics of mental health institutions, conveyed through university teaching (Universities of Reims, Nancy, Paris 8, Amiens) and publications. This practice also led him to focus on prevention and public health. He has presented several expert contributions to learned societies and public and parliamentary bodies on issues related to the prevention and management of addictions.