Participants in a drug court are subjects in a study that analyzes the relationship between the everyday problems they identify in discussions with the judge and their patterns of recovery, as measured by compliance with program requirements. 130 types of problems mentioned in court revealed that problems generally are those associated with the individuals themselves (e.g., their physical health), their immediate social milieu (e.g., domestic abuse), and the larger social structure in which they negotiate their lives (e.g., acquiring Medicaid benefits). The most frequently mentioned types of problems were “structural” in nature. Patterns of recovery identified in program graduates resulted in labels of “clear sailers,” “late bloomers,” “occasional stumblers,” and “chronic stumblers.” A case study of an occasional stumbler reveals some ways in which everyday hassles and her responses to them affected her recovery.
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