Reconstructing ‘the Alcoholic’: Recovering from Alcohol Addiction and the Stigma this Entails

Public perception of alcohol addiction is frequently negative, whilst an important part of recovery is the construction of a positive sense of self. In order to explore how this might be achieved, we investigated how those who self-identify as in recovery from alcohol problems view themselves and their difficulties with alcohol and how they make sense of others’ responses to their addiction. Semi-structured interviews with six individuals who had been in recovery between 5 and 35 years and in contact with Alcoholics Anonymous were analysed using Interpretative Phenomenological Analysis. The participants were acutely aware of stigmatising images of ‘alcoholics’ and described having struggled with a considerable dilemma in accepting this identity themselves. However, to some extent they were able to resist stigma by conceiving of an ‘aware alcoholic self’ which was divorced from their previously unaware self and formed the basis for a new more knowing and valued identity

Life Design and People with Experience of Substance Abuse

Adults with Substance Use Disorder (SUD) experience many barriers and challenges in their work and social inclusion. Moreover, use and abuse of drug is related to vocational and occupational problems and to difficulties in planning one\u2019s own future life in personal and professional domains. Based on the Life Design paradigm that emphasizes human diversity, uniqueness, and purposiveness in work and career, in this chapter attention was paid to possible paths in career counselling in order to help people with vulnerability to re and co-construct a new narration of self to improve a social and work inclusion. Taking into account the need and the importance to promote the conditions for work inclusion for people with vulnerability, attention was also paid to resources like career adaptability, courage, and hope and their role in supporting the personal and professional future planning of individuals with experience of substance abuse