How do mechanisms for behaviour change in addiction recovery apply to desistance from offending?

Exploring essential components of addiction recovery: a qualitative study across assisted and unassisted recovery pathways

“…Furthermore, society at large has its part in sculpting and facilitating recovery processes (McKay, 2017;Topor et al, 2018). Therefore, on a societal level, action should be undertaken towards eliminating social exclusion, stigma, and social inequality, given their impact on recovery processes (Best & Colman, 2019;Granfield & Cloud, 1996;Harper & Speed, 2014;Rose, 2014;Topor et al, 2018).…”

“…Other (underlying) dynamics might be essential to support the development and use of recovery capital. While existing research into addiction recovery identifies recovery capital and addresses the unique and heterogeneous character of recovery processes and pathways to addiction recovery, in-depth and detailed knowledge on the overarching essential components of addiction recovery processesand their dynamic and relational characterremains scarce (Best et al, 2019;Cano et al, 2017;Kelly et al, 2017). By applying a holistic stancethat includes attention to personal, relational, and contextual elementsand by prioritizing personal experiences of those in addiction recovery, a bottom-up experience-based understanding of the complex processes of addiction recovery can be obtained (Bjornestad et al, 2019).…”

Mechanisms and mediators of addiction recovery

“…This special issue has been driven by the insights and connections from the international REC-PATH (Recovery Pathways) study, funded by the European Research Area Network on Illicit Drugs (ERANID). This 3-year multi-country study in the UK, the Netherlands and Belgium aimed to identify recovery pathways of persons who use illicit drugs and assess the impact of societal responses on recovery trajectories (Best et al, 2019;. Based on a multi-method research design, over 700 persons with lived experiences of drug use problems were assessed during various waves and in specific sub-studies.…”

“…No single mechanism is likely to account for recovery, while the availability of mechanisms may change over time and different mechanisms may be involved in initiating and maintaining recovery. Building on these assumptions, we hypothesized in the REC-PATH study that five mechanisms of behaviour change contribute to addiction recovery: (1) 12-step mutual aid support; (2) other peer-based recovery support; (3) residential and therapeutic community treatment; (4) specialist outpatient (maintenance and abstinence-oriented) treatment; and (5) natural recovery (Best et al, 2019;Best 2019). The assumption was that most study participants would have attempted multiple mechanisms, if not all, and that this would differ according to gender and recovery stage.…”