Before and After Pictures of Addicts in Recovery
Who are these pictures serving?
I am very active in the social media community, both managing our own rehab’s pages, and trying to stay in the flow of information coming from other treatment facilities and recovery communities. Lately I have been seeing many before and after pictures of people in recovery. These pictures are predictable; the before picture is a lanky haired, thin and dark looking apathetic, sad or angry face, the after is bright eyed, full cheeked, shiny haired and smiling. The transformation is remarkable, and like all recoveries, miraculous, and full of God’s grace.
My concern is the exploitation of these people, usually in very early sobriety, to become ‘poster children’ of treatment centers or sober/recovery Facebook pages or websites. As everyone who has anything to do with the internet knows, once a picture is released into the cyber world, there is no retrieving it. People in early recovery are very vulnerable, and recovery and treatment center communities should be a safe place for the newcomer. I believe these before and after photos to be gimmicky, self-serving and disrespectful to those people exposing themselves to the world. As these newcomers reintegrate into society, they may very well likely not want the ‘full blown addict’ pictures of themselves available for potential employers, co-workers, partners, in-laws or children. My issue has nothing to do with shame, or hiding abstinence based recovery, but there is a big difference between privacy and secrecy. Learning to respect personal boundaries is a life skill that comes with time and effort working the steps.
I am curious to hear how other addiction professionals feel about these addict exposures for the benefit of increased website traffic to treatment centers or cyber recovery communities. My hope is that people in early recovery are made aware of the potential for harm in these exploits and personal anonymity breaks. Counsellors and therapists could address this issue before newcomers make the decision to be posted and shared ad infinitum for curious gawkers.
The tradition of personal anonymity is not about shame; it is about protecting the fellowships from personal ego and short sighted exposure for personal or corporate gain. I look forward to your responses.
