RESEARCH ARTICLE
Feeling of Shame and Guilt in Recovering Addicts: A Qualitative Study
Neda Gohari Derakhshandeh1, Shahriar Shahidi1, *, Saeed Ghanbari1
Article Information
Identifiers and Pagination:
Year: 2023Volume: 16
E-location ID: e187435012308100
Publisher ID: e187435012308100
DOI: 10.2174/18743501-v16-230831-2023-37
Article History:
Received Date: 30/04/2023Revision Received Date: 04/07/2023
Acceptance Date: 17/07/2023
Electronic publication date: 04/09/2023
Collection year: 2023
open-access license: This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International Public License (CC-BY 4.0), a copy of which is available at: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/legalcode. This license permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited.
Abstract
Background:
The aim of this study was to determine the feelings of shame and guilt in recovering addicts.
Methods:
This qualitative study was conducted on 15 men recovering from substance use who referred to the Narcotics Anonymous Association centers. The participants were selected using the purposive sampling method. Data were collected using semi-structured interviews and analyzed by Colaizzi's seven-step method.
Results:
The results revealed that the experience of shame from the participants' perspective takes the form of two main themes, the description of shame (which itself includes five sub-themes: physical, mental, emotional, substantial, and metaphorical manifestations of shame) and the factors triggering the experience of shame (which itself includes six sub-themes: personal appearance, cognitive, behavioral, family, social, and peer factors). The results also showed that the experience of guilt is formulated in terms of two main themes, the description of guilt (which itself includes five sub-themes: physical, mental, emotional, substantial, and metaphorical manifestations of guilt) and the factors triggering the experience of guilt (which itself includes three sub-themes: cognitive, behavioral, and social factors).
Conclusion:
The description of the experience of shame and guilt and their triggering factors shows similarities in some aspects and differences in some aspects. The results of the study can be used in substance use studies and in educational, therapeutic, and rehabilitation settings.
