The importance of social legitimization on the (re)construction of an alcoholic's identity

This paper intends to understand the difficulties faced by an alcoholic, even in abstinence, to reconstruct his identity from his social relationships. For such purpose, concepts of social representations and identity, both borrowed from Social Psychology, have been used. The collaborator of this study was a patient undergoing treatment from the attendance and research unity of a public university in São Paulo, who had been experienced various relapsing processes. His life history has been analyzed based on interviews, in order to identify social processes that play a role on the construction of his identity. The results point out the importance of the social group in inducting the addiction behavior back, even if it is involuntary, creating difficulties for the personal emancipation. A better apprehension about this identity dynamics might help to diminish this drug dependents' chronic problem of the rehabilitation process: relapsing.

alcoholism; family; social identity; social legitimization; social psychology