A reinvenção do eu através do discurso: Narrativa, estigma e anonimato nas Famílias Anônimas

Abstract

Taking the Families Anonymous association as its empirical object, this essay analyzes three distinct aspects inter-related by the therapeutic approach adopted by these groups: a) the use of oral narrative and the exchange of shared experiences as a form of acquiring new meanings and new forms of responding to the problem that first led the family members to contact the association; b) the conflict between discourse and practice, focusing above all on the dichotomy between 'I, member of Families Anonymous' and 'I, father/mother of a drug addict,' and c) the recourse to anonymity as an element that allows control of the stigma and personal information that each member gives about him or herself.