Related Experiment Video
Updated: May 11, 2026

Integrating Computerized Linguistic and Social Network Analyses to Capture Addiction Recovery Capital in an Online Community
Published on: May 31, 2019
A metaphor analysis of recovering substance abusers' sensemaking of medication-assisted treatment
Shawna Malvini Redden1, Sarah J Tracy, Michael S Shafer
1Arizona State University, Tempe, AZ 85287, USA.
Abstract:
In this study, we examined metaphors invoked by people recovering from opioid dependence as they described the challenges and successes of using medication-assisted treatment. Metaphors provide linguistic tools for expressing issues that are confusing, complex, hidden, and difficult to state analytically or literally. Using data from eight focus groups with 68 participants representing four ethnic minority groups, we conducted a grounded analysis to show how recovering substance users communicatively constructed addiction and recovery. The primary medication, methadone, was framed as "liquid handcuffs" that allowed those in recovery to quit "hustling," get "straight," and find "money in their pockets." Nonetheless, methadone also served as a "crutch," leaving them still feeling like "users" with "habits" who "came up dirty" to friends and family. In this analysis, we tease out implications of these metaphors, and how they shed light on sensemaking, agency, and related racial- and class-based structural challenges in substance abuse recovery.
More Related Videos
08:05A Prediction Error-driven Retrieval Procedure for Destabilizing and Rewriting Maladaptive Reward Memories in Hazardous Drinkers
Published on: January 5, 2018
09:29Investigating Drivers of Antireward in Addiction Behavior with Anatomically Specific Single-Cell Gene Expression Methods
Published on: August 4, 2022
Related Concept Videos
Drug Abuse and Addiction: Pharmacological Phenomena
Drug Dependence
Substance Use Disorders Affecting Sleep
Understanding the concepts of physical dependence,...
Drug Therapy
Antianxiety Medications
Classification of Illness
An illness is a response to a disease in which the person's level of functioning is changed compared with a previous level. The general classification of illness includes acute and chronic.
Acute illness is severe and...
Therapeutic Drug Monitoring: Affecting Factors