Disclosing a stigmatised identity remains a significant difficulty for people in recovery from drug addiction. This paper examines how people in recovery anticipate and navigate stigma concerns as they move through personal, social, and employment settings in a society where drug addiction is associated with suspicion and fears of dangerousness. Drawing on qualitative interviews with twenty-five individuals in recovery in the United Kingdom and on modified labelling theory, this paper shows how stigma concerns and disclosure are ongoing, relational processes rather than a single event. The findings show that stigma concerns persisted throughout the recovery journey, emerging key during life transitions, such as starting new jobs and forming new relationships. Stigma vulnerabilities, such as criminal records, visible scars, or shared narratives, affected these transitions. The participants reported a variety of coping strategies identified by modified labelling theory (withdrawal from social contact, keeping the identity secret, and preventive telling, whereby individuals disclose to control the narrative), but they adapted them to new contexts. Withdrawal, often viewed negatively, served a positive role when immersed in recovery networks by supporting the development of a recovery identity. In employment, participants engaged in ‘compelled preventative telling’, disclosing their histories only to control narratives shaped by criminal record checks and to frame them through stories of redemption and recovery. In personal relationships, ‘delayed preventative telling’ allowed participants to build trust and authenticity before disclosing their stigmatised drug histories. Understanding disclosure as an ongoing negotiation offers new insights into the persistence of stigma in recovery.

Authors:
Ian Walmsley, University of the West of England, United Kingdom

About the Presenter(s)
Dr Ian Walmsley is interested in illegal drug use, drug policy, and the processes of treatment and recovery. His research on drugs spans historical and contemporary perspectives. His earlier work examined how the concept of the ‘addicted body’ emerged in the nineteenth century, exploring its links to wider social anxieties about poisons and poisoning. More recently, he has explored the challenges and strategies involved in disclosing a history of drug addiction in personal, social and employment settings.

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