Discourses of addiction in the construction of people whose drinking affected others in narratives about alcohol harms to others

While research in alcohol harms to others (AHTO) has described the characteristics of people whose drinking affects others, few studies have investigated the construction of the affecting drinkers from the perspectives of those who have been affected.

Drawing on data gathered through qualitative interviews with people who reported having been affected by others’ drinking, a discourse analysis was conducted to examine how they constructed the drinkers who affected them in the stories about their experiences.

The study focuses on stories about AHTO occurrences related to repeated, long-lasting harms that involve people who engaged in ‘problematic’ drinking that affected others, as framed by the affected persons. The discourse analysis showed how participants drew on three dominant discourses about addiction as disease, as choice, and as a social condition, to account for their experiences. Findings demonstrated the multiplicity of discourses in stories of AHTO, which participants conformed, challenged, and negotiated with to (re)construct the people whose drinking affected them as either the ‘perpetrator’, ‘victim’, or both.

Findings contribute to understanding of the ways in which affected persons make sense of their experiences of AHTO and attribute blame and responsibility. The flexible uses of multiple discourses in context also have implications for clinical settings to encourage agency while destigmatising alcohol use disorder.