Narrative, addiction, and three aspects of self-ambiguity

Doug McConnell, Anna Golova

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

5 Citations (Scopus)
58 Downloads (Pure)

Abstract

‘Self-ambiguity’, we suggest, is best understood as an uncertainty about how strongly a given feature reflects who one truly is. When this understanding of self-ambiguity is applied to a view of the self as having both essential and shapable components, self-ambiguity can be seen to have two aspects: (1) uncertainty about one's essential or relatively unchangeable characteristics, e.g. one's sexuality, and (2) uncertainty about how to shape oneself, e.g. which values to commit to, actions to pursue, or essential features to identify with. We explain how a narrative account of agency can accommodate these forms of self-ambiguity and argue that such an account also reveals another kind of self-ambiguity, namely, (3) uncertainty about whether one's established self-narrative represents who one really is. We illustrate this third form of self-ambiguity in the context of addiction where people's established addiction self-narratives make it difficult to identify with recovery. We argue that recovery will require embracing, especially, our third form of self-ambiguity as a chance for positive self-transformation. Treatment for addiction should, therefore, support people in going through and ultimately narratively resolving the inevitable self-ambiguities of the recovery process.

Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)66-85
Number of pages20
JournalPhilosophical Explorations
Volume26
Issue number1
Early online date4 Sept 2022
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - 2023
Externally publishedYes

Bibliographical note

Copyright the Author(s) 2022. Version archived for private and non-commercial use with the permission of the author/s and according to publisher conditions. For further rights please contact the publisher.

Keywords

  • self-ambiguity
  • addiction
  • authenticity
  • narrative
  • recovery
  • self-illness ambiguity

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