A (In)curable Disease? Making Meaning of Addiction from the Perspective of People in Recovery from Opioid Use Disorder

Abstract

People in recovery for opioid use must navigate their chronic illness and the corresponding stigma. Despite the prevalence of opioid use in the United States, contradictory determinations about the curability and responsibility of addiction remain. These contractions provide a complicated site from which to examine power in a health context where misinformation can be costly. In this study, we applied contrapuntal analysis, the corresponding method of relational dialectics theory, to examine the meaning of addiction from the perspective of people in recovery for opioid use disorder. Findings revealed two discourses: the Discourse of Addiction as a Disruptive Choice (DADC) and the Discourse of Addiction as Bad Luck (DABL) that interplayed through contractive practices and synchronic interplay. Findings also revealed a new contractive practice we term “mobbing.”