Are You Powerless To Your Drug?

A study that is performed between four young adult men in London looks up the correlation between ones identity and ones addiction to narcotics. These men are going through crucial moments in their lives that affect who they are and define who they are. When dealing with all of the factors the life brings, drug and alcohol consumption increase while one tries to find a sense of whom they are. Usually when a young adult drinks some will grow up and decide that they don’t need to get intoxicated every night, however there are some that a powerless to the drug and become addicted to the substance.

The men in this study have been attending Narcotics Anonymous for less than a year as their form to receive help. The NA meeting that these men were chosen from was an open meeting where the author of this study presented information to the attendees and then they replied saying if there were interested in participating or not. Those who were chosen to participate then were involved in interviews where they were to talk about their experience at NA and just provide in-depth detail with whatever was asked to them.

Three main topics were discussed were the challenges that arose at the beginning of the recovery, staying clean, and changing ones view of themselves. Within these topics the men each shared their struggles with their addiction and the recovery process, along with how they were progressing slowly from what once consumed them. Although none of the four men were clean for more than a year, NA helped them achieve abstinence from their drug of choice. Through practicing with self-care they were constantly finding techniques to not fall into relapse along with managing mixed feelings about themselves and their decision to stay clean. By managing their feelings they were able to truly find out who they were apart from being an addict.

The limitations of this study were easily found. There were only four participants that were apart of this study; if more men stepped up to contribute the findings may have been more reliable. Also the men who chose to sign up to help were probably active figures in the program and thought highly of NA, so there were most likely more positive than negative being said.

Abstract

Rodriguez, L., & Smith, J. A. (2014). ‘Finding Your Own Place’: An Interpretative Phenomenological Analysis of Young Men’s Experience of Early Recovery from Addiction. International Journal of Mental Health and Addiction, 1-14.