Bad doctors, enablers, and the powerless : the United States opioid crisis and the redefining of help
Abstract/Contents
- Abstract
- The contemporary opioid crisis has coincided with a notable shift towards more public-health-focused drug policies than in previous drug crises. Yet individuals struggling with addiction continue to be seen as responsible for the onset and persistence of their condition, and this blame can carry over to their families. These dynamics highlight the persistent tension between moral and medical discourses of addiction that permeate society. Drawing on data I collected through 65 in-depth interviews with current and former opioid users and their non-opioid using family members, my dissertation examines: 1) how they attempt to navigate this tension to treat or prevent drug addiction for those closest to them and 2) the impact these efforts have on their sense of self and well-being. In the first paper, I illustrate how concerns about "enabling" complicate family members' notions of help and create a morally fraught dilemma because it is unclear to them whether it is more harmful to provide or withhold support. Attempts to navigate this dilemma were often a source of guilt and anxiety. In the second paper, I examine the ways individuals who have struggled with addiction attempt to support others struggling with addiction and the benefits and challenges they encounter. For many, the ability to help others provided a positive boost in their self-esteem and played a crucial part in their identities as "recovered" users. However, focusing too much on helping others was considered problematic because it might distract a person from properly managing their recovery. In the third paper, I explore the ways parents who have struggled with drug addiction conceptualize their children's risk of addiction and the strategies they take to minimize those risks. I demonstrate how an emphasis on socialization as a driver for drug use and addiction created a space where some parents felt they could help minimize their children's risk of following in their footsteps, despite potential biological predispositions. Together, this dissertation's findings provide important insight on how conflicting cultural meanings surrounding addiction complicate the meaning of social support in ways that may contribute to the stigmatization and marginalization of people who use drugs and their families. They also have broader theoretical implications for understanding how ambiguity may strain identities and relationships, the benefits and risks associated with helping in the context of illness, and how conceptions of risk impact social support patterns and parenting strategies.
Description
| Type of resource | text |
|---|---|
| Form | electronic resource; remote; computer; online resource |
| Extent | 1 online resource. |
| Place | California |
| Place | [Stanford, California] |
| Publisher | [Stanford University] |
| Copyright date | 2022; ©2022 |
| Publication date | 2022; 2022 |
| Issuance | monographic |
| Language | English |
Creators/Contributors
| Author | Sobotka, Tagart Cain |
|---|---|
| Degree supervisor | Correll, Shelley Joyce |
| Degree supervisor | Freese, Jeremy |
| Thesis advisor | Correll, Shelley Joyce |
| Thesis advisor | Freese, Jeremy |
| Thesis advisor | Clair, Matthew K |
| Thesis advisor | Saperstein, Aliya |
| Degree committee member | Clair, Matthew K |
| Degree committee member | Saperstein, Aliya |
| Associated with | Stanford University, Department of Sociology |
Subjects
| Genre | Theses |
|---|---|
| Genre | Text |
Bibliographic information
| Statement of responsibility | Tagart Cain Sobotka. |
|---|---|
| Note | Submitted to the Department of Sociology. |
| Thesis | Thesis Ph.D. Stanford University 2022. |
| Location | https://purl.stanford.edu/ht239sy5371 |
Access conditions
- Copyright
- © 2022 by Tagart Cain Sobotka
- License
- This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution Non Commercial 3.0 Unported license (CC BY-NC).
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