Expecting and Accepting: The Temporal Ambiguity of Recovery Identities

Abstract

This paper has two complementary agendas. One is to develop a formal analysis of temporal ambiguity in self-identification. This refers specifically to having two conflicting orientations toward the future with regard to one's identity (e.g., a temporary expecting orientation and a permanent accepting orientation). I use the recovery identity (e.g., alcoholic, anorexic, agoraphobic) as a temporally ambiguous case because this identity is established as a means to an end but is susceptible to becoming an end in itself through identification with the disorder label. My analysis is based on the recovery narratives of individuals who have disidentified with their disorder labels; this allows for a consideration of the entire recovery career, from entry to exit. My second agenda is to explore the underresearched phenomenology of exiting from recovery identities specifically. Both of these agendas contribute new insight into identity research, labeling theory, and the sociology of mental health.

“Depression is who I am”: Mental illness identity, stigma and wellbeing

“…Illness support groups, including online communities, have the potential to be harmful if they encourage patients to adopt an illness identity that is framed in permanent, biochemical terms, or to engage in collective rumination (see also Howard, 2006;Kvaale et al, 2013). Instead, clinicians should seek to provide alternative, positive sources of selfdefinition around which social identities might cohere, which might include recreational or community groups (e.g.…”

Benefits and Costs of Alcoholic Relationships and Recovery Through Al-Anon

“…One study of support groups (including Al-Anon) found that those who chose to participate had a higher level of preoccupation with family life (Cormier, 1995). The cost of such a preoccupation is that dependence on a group or a sponsor could become overdependence, interfering with the development of personal identity and self-reliance (Howard, 2006). The impulses toward family enmeshment and manipulation could hypothetically be reproduced within the context of the Al-Anon family.…”

‘It is Just Habitual’: An Interpretative Phenomenological Analysis of the Experience of Long-Term Recovery from Addiction

“…Most hid their addictive past for fear that disclosure would jeopardize their new identity. Howard (2006) maintains that the 'recovery' label provided by a treatment programme/group can be both potentially helpful when accepted at a suitable time, and potentially damaging in so far that it can limit the scope of recovery. Howard (2008) suggests that the resources of 'recovery capital' one possesses are not only important in facilitating recovery but can be equally significant in enabling a process of disidentification with the label.…”