Recovery National Institute on Drug Abuse NIDA
The specific combination of treatments and settings for care should be based on the individual’s needs and may change over time as the person responds to treatment. Research shows that many people with SUDs respond well to combinations of behavioral therapies, medications, and recovery supports. Participants in this study reported a variety of desired non-abstinent recovery outcomes. Almost all participants endorsed the importance of getting adequate energy from sleep and appetite in recovery, which is consistent with prior research indicating that methamphetamine is often used to regulate sleep and appetite 24.
Examples of Benefits to the Individual
This approach has gained momentum as an ideal clinical process that allows for routine incorporation of patient-reported data (collected via a standardized assessment tool) into treatment decisions. This process of gathering and analyzing information better allows clinicians to make an informed conceptualization as well as engage the patient in their care. These measures can aid in information gathering, provide a starting point for discussions, and gauging patient willingness and openness to discussing certain topics. Assessment of a patient’s spiritual/religious history and challenges, allows us to function as culturally considerate clinicians. It has also been recommended for the development of a therapeutic alliance to precede discussions about these topics (Post & Wade, 2009).
How do the best treatment programs help patients recover from addiction?
Furthermore, there are additional important reasons for more research on non-abstinent recovery outcomes not addressed by Paquette and colleagues (2022). To begin, the establishment of non-abstinent indicators of recovery may foster greater acceptance of harm reduction, both in philosophy and in practice. The U.S. has been slow to adopt many evidence-based harm reduction strategies including syringe service programs 30, fentanyl testing strips 31, 32, and overdose prevention sites 33. Where non-abstinent recovery gains can be realized and measured, the benefits of non-abstinent recovery and/or harm reduction may be more palatable to providers and the general public.
This composite item helps address the possibility that recovering people may include some substance use goal as part of their recovery definitions without agreeing on the specific goal. The item was coded as positive if respondents endorsed any one of the 3 Abstinence items and/or nonproblematic use as definitely belonging in their recovery definitions, and negative otherwise. As an exploratory analysis, we also created a variable reflecting endorsement of at least one abstinence item (ie, excluding nonproblematic use), but opted to include nonproblematic use because the abstinence-only item ranked below the top 10 overall (with endorsement of 88%).
- Participant’s physical health concerns centered on having adequate energy.
- First, we coded our 30 theoretically relevant subgroups, including 12 sociodemographic subgroups (Table 4), 12 substance use problem characteristic subgroups (Table 5), and 6 help-seeking history subgroups (Table 6).
- Because setbacks are a natural part of life, resilience becomes a key component of recovery.
- However, the individual abstinence items were among those least highly endorsed overall.
- Acknowledging past successes unrelated to addiction can boost self-esteem.
Helps people understand addiction, their triggers, and their reasons for using drugs. This form of treatment can be done at a doctor’s office or via telehealth appointment. Employment is virtually essential for having a stable and meaningful life. A lack of positive references and having a criminal record typically pose challenges.
RECOVERY HOUSING
Our team evaluates your needs, considering substance use and mental health. We then use the information we gather to create an individualized care plan. Outpatient counseling can help people understand addiction, their triggers, and their reasons for using drugs. This form of treatment can be done at a doctor’s office or via telehealth appointment. Each person’s journey will be unique and will not adhere to a strict schedule. Nor does it mean that they have achieved a quality of life acceptable to them.
Substance Abuse Group Activities That Empower Recovery
This lack of variability presents an important opportunity for future research to assess more granular differences in desired non-abstinent recovery outcomes via rank ordering or investigation of lesser explored dimensions of recovery. However, despite these limitations, the study has several strengths, including the focus on an often-overlooked topic and the use of semi open-ended questions, which provides important qualitative insight. In the United States, complete abstinence persists as the standard for demonstrating recovery success from substance use disorders (SUDs), apart from alcohol use disorder (AUD). This study sought to expand the definition of recovery to include non-abstinent pathways by exploring non-abstinence-based outcomes desired by people who use methamphetamine (PWUM).
Research has demonstrated that MOUD is effective in helping people recover from their OUD.567 It is important to find what works best each individual. People experiencing SUDs have trouble controlling their drug use even though they know drugs are harmful. Taylor Swift’s lyrics explore the emotional complexity Sober House Rules: What You Should Know Before Moving In of drinking alcohol, from joy to heartbreak.
Goals
The evidence shows that every day, people choose to recover from addiction on their own. One way or another, they learn and deploy a set of skills that help them get through the strong cravings and urges of the difficult early stages of recovery. Some of the most helpful strategies for dealing with cravings are summarized in the acronym DEADS.
In 2017, an outpatient program counselor recommended I try a luxury rehab that’s since closed. She said I’d be housed with women, but upon arrival I learned that I would be housed with men. Despite all the legal paperwork clearly documenting my gender identity, and medical paperwork clearly documenting my gender dysphoria and treatment history, the facility staff never mentioned anything about housing me with men until I got there. When I expressed that I needed to be in women’s housing in order to stay, they said I would need to arrange my own transportation to get home. https://yourhealthmagazine.net/article/addiction/sober-houses-rules-that-you-should-follow/ I saw a patient who was discharged for bringing drugs into the facility still get offered their car service to get home. Making space for spirituality while treating substance use disorders.
This activity helps members explore qualities, interests, and values that define them beyond addiction, encouraging them to embrace a new, healthy identity. Journaling provides a safe outlet for self-reflection and emotional processing. Provide journal prompts to help members explore their thoughts and feelings, enhancing their self-awareness and offering a therapeutic space for introspection.
Participants also strongly endorsed “not getting in trouble with the law” as a desired non-abstinent recovery outcome. This may not be surprising given that a majority of the participants in this study had prior involvement in the criminal legal system. Results also suggested that PWUM perceive various forms of stability to be valuable indicators of recovery, including relationship, financial, employment, and life stability. Relatedly, participants indicated the importance of psychological stability, in terms of both cognitive functioning and mental health. However, the relationship between these various forms of stability (financial, employment, etc.) and abstinence or non-abstinence was not within the scope of this study.
Too, there may be long gaps in a resume that are hard to explain away. Experts believe that tackling the emotional residue of addiction—the guilt and shame—is fundamental to building a healthy life. It’s not possible to undo the damage that was done, but it is possible to build new sources of self-respect by acknowledging past harms, repairing relationships, and maintaining the commitment to recovery. Mindfulness training, a common component of cognitive behavioral therapy, can help people ride out their cravings without acting on them.
However, participants were more likely to endorse non-abstinent recovery when asked about the use of specific substances, especially legal substances. For instance, 80% of participants reported not using alcohol is “very important” or “essential”, 65% reported not using cannabis is “very important” or “essential”, and 18% reported not using tobacco is “very important” or “essential”. Lastly, participants reported that reducing cravings (91%) and identifying as a person in recovery (81%) were also important substance use-related recovery outcomes. About two-thirds of the participants agreed or strongly agreed that people need to stop all mind- or mood-altering substances to be in recovery (64%; Table 2). Similarly, most reported that methamphetamine recovery cannot include the use of other drugs (69%). However, when asked about specific substances, participants exhibited more acceptance for non-abstinent outcomes, as a sizeable minority endorsed that recovery from methamphetamine can include the use of legal substances with alcohol use at 39% and tobacco at 89%.