Analysis of the causes of relapse in substance abusers based on semantic-value components of the language (case of discourse analysis)

Substance abuse and its complications have devastating effects on individuals, families, and the community. Many factors have transformed substance abuse into a complex and multidimensional subject. One of these factors is the relapse and return to substance abuse. The present study is a qualitative study of discourse analysis. The purpose of this study is to investigate the causes of relapse in substance abusers based on semantic-value components of language. In this study, specific articulations in the discourse were identified using LACLAU and Mouffe's discourse analysis. Based on this model, the researcher attempted to collect descriptions and readings of the participants about the causes of the relapse by using an unstructured interview. The participants were those who had presented to the medical centers of Isfahan and had the history of at least two withdrawal attempts. They were selected via purposive sampling method. After 11 interviews, the sample reached saturation. The data were encoded using content analysis method. In this study, it was revealed that substance abusers with passive identity embark on eliminating the hegemony of the dominant discourse in society under the influence of the dominant discourse in the consumer society. In fight (antagonism) with the ruling authorities, such as the family, counselor, and guide, they have taken refuge into their nodal point, i.e. the use of drugs, and they then turn to the reuse of drugs and fixation of the meaning of drug use with the formation of an empty signifier, i.e. getting distanced from intimacy, affection, and trust; and approaching inefficiency and inadequacy. Relapse is a negative process that involves the return to drugs and is experienced by 20 to 90% of drug addicts. They primarily defend their own hegemonic (semantic) stability and then they go for marginalization in the context of social hierarchy and dominant discourses on the society and family. For relapse prevention, it is better to make changes in the macro discourses of the society and in the educational, training, and therapeutic system.