ArticleFrontiers in psychology2015
Social Identities as Pathways into and out of Addiction.
Article in Frontiers in psychology, 2015. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 73 papers, 4 of them syntheses that pooled it.
What it found
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The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
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Who cites it
73 citing papers in PubMed, 4 syntheses or guidelines pooled it.
- Emotional Eating Interventions for Adults Living With Overweight and Obesity: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis of Behaviour Change Techniques.Journal of human nutrition and dietetics : the official journal of the British Dietetic Association · 2025Pooled it
- Psychosocial factors associated with overdose subsequent to Illicit Drug use: a systematic review and narrative synthesis.Harm reduction journal · 2024Pooled it
- Transformation of identity in substance use as a pathway to recovery and the potential of treatment for hepatitis C: a systematic review.Addiction (Abingdon, England) · 2023Pooled it
- Characteristics of alcohol recovery narratives: Systematic review and narrative synthesis.PloS one · 2022Pooled it
- Groups for belonging: a parallel cluster randomized controlled trial of a group-based loneliness intervention for people attending treatment for alcohol and other drug use.BMC public health · 2025Trial
- 'Before, we ended up in conflicts, now we can provide support'-Experiences of Community Reinforcement and Family Training (CRAFT) for parents of young adults with hazardous substance use.BMC psychiatry · 2024Trial
- Writing about the future self to shift drinking identity: An experimental investigation.Alcohol (Fayetteville, N.Y.) · 2024Trial
- More than a medication: The lived meaning and value of long-acting injectable buprenorphine.Drug and alcohol dependence reports · 2026Article
- Alcoholics anonymous and recovery in Türkiye: A qualitative study in the context of Social Identity Theory.The British journal of social psychology · 2026Article
- Problem gambling among working youth in Southeast Türkiye: predictors and psychological consequences.BMC public health · 2026Article
- The relationship between regular substance use and cost comparisons in stable and volatile learning contexts.Translational psychiatry · 2026Article
- Building recovery capital: co-creating an assets-based community engagement toolkit for people accessing drug and alcohol treatment services.Frontiers in public health · 2026Article
- Exploring agency, communion and narrative foreclosure in cognitive behavioural therapy for substance use disorders.Addictive behaviors reports · 2025Article
- The effects of dynamic recovery identity on lapse risk and the role of daily recovery meetings.The International journal on drug policy · 2025Article
- Examining quality of life by recovery status among college students with a history of substance use.Quality of life research : an international journal of quality of life aspects of treatment, care and rehabilitation · 2025Article
- Post-treatment life-trajectories among people who inject drugs who completed hepatitis C treatment with direct acting antivirals: A thematic analysis.British journal of health psychology · 2025Article
- Experiencing Traumatic Violence: An Interpretative Phenomenological Analysis of One Man's Lived Experience of a Violent Attack Involving a Knife.Behavioral sciences (Basel, Switzerland) · 2025Article
- Recovery Capital Is Associated with a Greater Likelihood of NIAAA-Defined Recovery for Adults with Prior Alcohol Problems.Substance use & misuse · 2025Article
- How addiction fuels innovation: a mixed-methods study on the psychological trade-offs of digital labor in gig economy.Frontiers in psychology · 2025Article
- Whole Person Recovery from Substance Use Disorder: A Call for Research Examining a Dynamic Behavioral Ecological Model of Contexts Supportive of Recovery.Addiction research & theory · 2025Article
13 more citing papers are in PubMed but not listed here.
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
3 authors.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
There exists a predominant identity loss and "redemption" narrative in the addiction literature describing how individuals move from a "substance user" identity to a "recovery" identity. However, other identity related pathways influencing onset, treatment seeking and recovery may exist, and the process through which social identities unrelated to substance use change over time is not well understood. This study was designed to provide a richer understanding of such social identities processes. Semi-structured interviews were conducted with 21 adults residing in a drug and alcohol therapeutic community (TC) and thematic analysis revealed two distinct identity-related pathways leading into and out of addiction. Some individuals experienced a loss of valued identities during addiction onset that were later renewed during recovery (consistent with the existing redemption narrative). However, a distinct identity gain pathway emerged for socially isolated individuals, who described the onset of their addiction in terms of a new valued social identity. Almost all participants described their TC experience in terms of belonging to a recovery community. Participants on the identity loss pathway aimed to renew their pre-addiction identities after treatment while those on the identity gain pathway aimed to build aspirational new identities involving study, work, or family roles. These findings help to explain how social factors are implicated in the course of addiction, and may act as either motivations for or barriers to recovery. The qualitative analysis yielded a testable model for future research in other samples and settings.
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Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.