Natural Recovery from Addiction: Some Social-Psychological Processes of Untreated Recovery

Abstract

This is a report of an exploratory in-depth study of the social-psychological processes of untreated recovery. Data for the study comes from focused interviews with a sample of 201 ex-addicts (half untreated, half treated) located by means of the snowball referral method. Findings indicate that personal motivations to stop using opiates usually arise out of the lifestyle, police activities and environment of illicit opiate use—out of the “changes” addicts experience trying to maintain expensive habits. Individuals respond differently to such changes. Some sink into profound despair and act when they are forced to. Others weigh the consequence of future opiate use and make rational decisions to change, while still others just drift into something else because their commitment to opiate use and the lifestyle was only tenuous. Once addicts decide to quit, they must leave the scene, break all ties with opiate users and create new interests, new social networks, new social identities. Some persons do this by their own efforts while others use existing institutions. Six patterns of recovery were discerned and it was concluded that the “maturing out” concept is not sufficient to describe all the different variations. In addition to maturation, we found that some addicts become converts to religious, social or communal causes, some retire (give up the drug but maintain the lifestyle). Others use opiates in certain situations and change when the situation changes and some move on to other drugs (usually alcohol).

Gambling and Related Mental Disorders: A Public Health Analysis

“…However, this study did not examine the pathways to recovery for casino employees. If gambling disorders are similar to other addictions, there is a vital gap in the literature since most people with gambling-related problems probably escape this circumstance without treatment (34, 154,165,183,193). Prospective research designs are necessary to establish the extent of natural recovery and the determinants that influence the transition from problem to nonproblem gambling or abstinence.…”

The CHANGE Study: Methods and Sample Description for a Cross-Sectional Study of Heroin Cessation in New York City

“…Groundbreaking studies in the 1960s, 1970s, and 1980s provided mostly descriptive data on the natural history of drug abuse with samples drawn from drug abuse treatment and the criminal justice system. 9,12,22,[38][39][40][41][42][43][44][45][46] Natural recovery is less well studied, 11,13,14,31,47 especially recently, and data are sparse on the factors associated with sustained heroin cessation, particularly among street-recruited samples. The CHANGE Study focused on cessation of heroin use specifically, as opposed to cessation of all drugs or cessation of drug injection for three primary reasons.…”

A Method to Estimate Total Entry to Hard Drug Use: The Case of Intravenous Drug Use in Norway

“…The first stage is the experimental or initiation stage of drug use, followed by escalation, usually ending in daily or stable drug use. Then other phases follow, including efforts to stop, possible recovery and being an 'ex-addict' [19] . The existence of a group of individuals who experiment once or a few times and another group with long-standing occasional use without being or becoming addicted has also been described [19][20][21] .…”