“I Don't Have Another Run Left With It”: Ontological Security in Illness Narratives of Recovering on Methadone Maintenance

ABSTRACT

This study examines the accounts of 45 opiate-addicted individuals in recovery with methadone maintenance treatment (MMT). In-depth interviews assess these individuals' meanings and practices of recovery. Results show that methadone patients, in forming their own recovery models, vacillate between competing definitions of recovery: from the strict program established by methadone clinicians and enforced through frequent urinalyses, to the ideal that Narcotics and Alcoholics Anonymous ascribe. The findings suggest that despite apparent vacillations between competing recovery-paragons, the unifying theme in their illness narratives on recovery is the need for ontological security. The results imply that opiate-addicted individuals might benefit most from programs modeled on a harm reduction approach.