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            Senior Scientist, William (Bill) C. Kerr, PhD, is Director of ARG’s National Alcohol Research Center and Co-Directs the National Alcohol Survey and the Health Disparities projects.  Bill also serves as the scientific director at ARG and continues to lead R01 projects, including a grant to investigate secondhand harms from alcohol and other drugs.

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            This project, led by Camillia Lui, PhD, traces trends in harmful drinking patterns over a 40-year period, and identifies a range of alcohol-related precursors and problems through event-based and population-based approaches to inform early screening and interventions for high-risk groups.

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            Scientist and Deputy Scientific Director, Priscilla Martinez, oversees the survey design, data collection, and analyses.  In the latest cycle of the NAS, Priscilla conducted dried blood spot sampling to help better understand the relationship between how our immune systems work and what role they might play in how alcohol use can affect our mental health.

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What is Recovery?

Funding: NIAAA R01 AA017954

Project PI: Lee Ann Kaskutas, DrPH

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 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, the Alcohol Research Group 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.

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. The recommended citation is: 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 (www.jsad.com).

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About ARG

We are a non-profit research organization that seeks to improve public health through deepening our understanding of alcohol and other drug use and investigating innovative approaches to reduce its consequences for individuals, families, and communities.

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