A recent qualitative study has identified six strategies that recovering alcoholics use to negotiate social situations and remain sober, depending on how they feel about stigmas associated with drinking and alcoholism.
"There is a stigma in the United States associated with not drinking socially," says Lynsey Romo, corresponding author of the study and an associate professor of communication at North Carolina State University. "There is also a stigma associated with problem drinking. We did this study because we wanted to understand how people negotiate this double-stigma socially in order to stay sober.
"There really is no clear guidance for people in recovery on how to deal with stigmas associated with drinking and alcohol abuse, and a lot of people in recovery grapple with shame and other issues associated with these stigmas. We're optimistic that outlining these strategies can serve as something of a tool kit for helping people in recovery navigate these issues."
For the study, researchers conducted in-depth interviews with 22 U.S. adults who have been sober for at least 10 years.
The researchers identified six strategies for managing stigma. Specifically, the researchers found that the strategies study participants chose depended both on whether they believed there was a societal stigma against alcoholism and whether they felt such a stigma applied to them. In other words, did they feel society was judging them? And did they feel ashamed about being alcoholics, even though they were in recovery?
The six strategies were:
This study is part of a larger body of work that makes clear alcoholism is still stigmatized in society. And other research suggests that the more people buy into these stigmas, the more likely they are to struggle with relapses.
"We think our study is important because understanding and outlining these strategies for managing stigmas can help recovering alcoholics identify techniques for maintaining their sobriety and moving forward with their recovery," Romo says.
"It's also important to note that the way recovering alcoholics view themselves and the stigmas related to drinking and alcoholism are not fixed - they will shift over time as people go through the process of recovery. That means that the strategies are also not fixed. In fact, people often adopt more than one strategy at a time."
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Materialsprovided byNorth Carolina State University. Original written by Matt Shipman.注意:内容可能被编辑风格d length.
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