A Qualitative Study of Methamphetamine Users’ Perspectives on Barriers and Facilitators of Drug Abstinence

Abstract

To better understand methamphetamine (MA) use patterns and the process of recovery, qualitative interviews were conducted with adult MA users (n=20), comparing a sample that received substance abuse treatment with those who had not received treatment. Respondents provided detailed information on why and how they changed from use to abstinence, and factors they considered to be barriers to abstinence. Audio recordings and transcripts were reviewed for common themes. Participants reported a range of mild/moderate to intensely destructive problems, including loss of important relationships and profound changes to who they felt they were at their core, e.g., “I didn’t realize how dark and mean I was... I was like a different person.” Initial abstinence was often facilitated by multiple external forces (e.g., drug testing, child custody issues, prison, relocation), but sustained abstinence was attributed to shifts in thinking and salient realizations about using. The treatment group reported using more and different resources to maintain their abstinence than the no treatment group. Findings indicate individualized interventions and multiple, simultaneous approaches and resources were essential in reaching stable abstinence. Understanding long-term users’ experiences with MA use, addiction and abstinence can inform strategies for engaging and sustaining MA users in treatment and recovery.

Addicted to the ‘life of methamphetamine’: Perceived barriers to sustained methamphetamine recovery

“…Lastly, these narratives are representative of the thoughts and experiences of methamphetamine users visiting KCI The Anti-Meth Site, and may not be generalisable to other methamphetamine support websites. However, given that the emergent perceived barriers in this study closely matched the barriers reported in studies that used non-online study populations (Boeri et al, 2009;German et al, 2006;Herbeck et al, 2014;Sexton et al, 2008), other online sources may yield similar information about barriers to methamphetamine recovery.…”

“…Methamphetamine was used to avoid the negative emotions and thoughts associated with these events. Lastly, Herbeck, Brecht, Christou, and Lovinger, (2014) explored barriers to methamphetamine recovery among a small group of methamphetamine users receiving and not receiving treatment. Similar to the findings of Boeri et al (2009), in both groups, loss of social relationships and personal trauma were important barriers to recovery, however participants who received no treatment were more likely to report the desire to have fun as a barrier to recovery (82% vs. 44%), and the treatment group were more likely to report craving and addiction as a barrier to recovery (78% vs. 36%).…”

Memory Retrieval-Extinction Combined With Virtual Reality Reducing Drug Craving for Methamphetamine: Study Protocol for a Randomized Controlled Trial

“…2. Dropout rate will be assessed to indicate the motivation of participants to effectively engage in the treatment program (36,37). Many methamphetamine users are reluctant to enter treatment and once in treatment there is an unacceptably high early dropout rate (38).…”

Perceived social support as predictor of treatment completion in methamphetamine dependent individuals

“…Although in Mexico no dropout rate statistics are available for methamphetamine addiction treatment, research in other countries has returned rates ranging between 12% and 67% (Chen et al, 2015;Hillhouse et al, 2007;McKellar et al, 2006;Rawson et al, 2004). Dropout during the first 60 days of treatment may indicate that patients lack motivation to participate effectively in rehabilitation programs, or that they have not yet decided to change their lifestyle in relation to drugs (Herbeck et al, 2014;Huang et al, 2011).…”