The term ‘recovery’ is widely used in the research literature. Recovery is a goal of alcohol treatment, and recovery-oriented systems of care are being developed to support that goal. Alcoholics who no longer drink and are trying to pursue an improved way of living/being say that they are ‘in recovery.’ Yet for all its use, and seeming centrality, there is no agreed upon definition of the term within the alcohol literature. Lacking a definition, recovery usually is equated with abstinence or symptom remission in research even though it is not so narrowly circumscribed by those who say they are in recovery. This alcohol methods development study, lead by Senior Scientist Lee Ann Kaskutas, aimed to develop a recovery definition that is based on how people who have been through the experience of recovery define the term.
To develop potential items for the definition, ARG conducted surveys and qualitative interviews (200+) with members of alumni groups from sober living and treatment programs, recovering staff, members of recovery organizations (many of whom will not have attended Alcoholics Anonymous/AA or treatment), and individuals in AA (many of whom will not have attended treatment). The resulting items were administered in a second online survey, which was completed by 9,341 individuals with different pathways to recovery.
Based on these results, we now have a very specific definition of recovery—and it is one that clearly demonstrates the many positive “ways of being” that define recovery. We made sure that different views were included in the final recovery definition. This left us with 39 items to represent the elements of recovery:
| Elements of Recovery | % belongs | ||
| “Abstinence in recovery” | |||
| No use of alcohol | 94 | ||
| No abuse of prescribed medication | 92 | ||
| No use of non-prescribed drugs | 88 | ||
| “Essentials of Recovery” | |||
| Being honest with myself | 99 | ||
| Being able to enjoy life without drinking or using drugs like I used to | 99 | ||
| Handling negative feelings without using drugs or drinking like I used to | 99 | ||
| Changing the way I think through things | 99 | ||
| Not replacing one destructive dependency with another | 99 | ||
| Taking care of my mental health more than I did before | 99 | ||
| A realistic appraisal of my abilities & my limitations | 99 | ||
| Being able to deal with situations that used to stump me | 99 | ||
| Freedom from feeling physically sick because of my drinking or using | 98 | ||
| Dealing with mistakes | 98 | ||
| Striving to be consistent with my beliefs & values in activities that take up the major part of my time & energy | 98 | ||
| Being able to have relationships where I am not using people or being used | 98 | ||
| Having people around me who know how to get thru life without using alcohol or other drugs like they used to | 98 | ||
| Getting along with family or friends better than I did before | 98 | ||
| Trying to live in a place that is not overrun with alcohol or drugs | 96 | ||
| “Enriched recovery” | |||
| A process of growth & development | 99 | ||
| Taking responsibility for the things I can change | 99 | ||
| Reacting to life’s ups & downs in a more balanced way than I used to | 99 | ||
| Living a life that contributes to society, to your family, or to your betterment | 99 | ||
| Having tools to try to feel inner peace when I need to | 99 | ||
| Developing inner strength | 99 | ||
| Improved self-esteem | 99 | ||
| Taking care of my physical health more than I did before | 99 | ||
| Learning how to get the kind of support from others that I need | 99 | ||
| Being the kind of person that people can count on | 98 | ||
| “Spirituality of Recovery” | |||
| Being grateful | 99 | ||
| About giving back | 98 | ||
| About helping other people to not drink or use drugs like they used to | 98 | ||
| Appreciating that I am part of the universe, something bigger than myself | 97 | ||
| Becoming more open-minded about spirituality than before | 96 | ||
| Feeling connected to a spiritual being or force that helps me deal with difficulties in life | 95 | ||
| Spiritual in nature & has nothing to do with religion | 95 | ||
| “Uncommon elements of recovery” | |||
| Physical & mental in nature & has nothing to do with spirituality or religion | 65 | ||
| No use of tobacco | 64 | ||
| Religious in nature | 63 | ||
| Non-problematic alcohol or drug use | 43 | ||
The information provided here was originally published in the journal article listed below. Recommended citation is as follows:
Kaskutas, L. A., Borkman, T. J., Laudet, A., Ritter, L. A., Witbrodt, J., Subbaraman, M., Stunz, A., & Bond, J. (November 2014). Elements that define recovery: The experiential perspective. Journal of Studies on Alcohol and Drugs, 75(6), 999-1010. Full Text or Abstract.
Reprinted with permission from Alcohol Research Documentation, Inc., publisher of the Journal of Studies on Alcohol and Drugs.
