Practical support aids addiction recovery: the positive identity model of change

Abstract

BackgroundThere is a need for studies that can highlight principles of addiction recovery. Because social relationships are involved in all change processes, understanding how social motivations affect the recovery process is vital to guide support programs.MethodsThe objective was to develop a model of recovery by examining addicted individuals’ social motivations through longitudinal assessment of non-professional support dyads. A qualitative, longitudinal study design was used, combining focus groups and in-depth interviews with addicted individuals and their sponsors. Data were analyzed using the principles of grounded theory: open coding and memos for conceptual labelling, axial coding for category building, and selective coding for theory building. The setting was an addiction recovery social support program in Oslo, Norway. The informants included nine adults affected by addiction, six sponsors, and the program coordinator. The participants were addicted to either alcohol (2), benzodiazepines (1), pain killers (1) or polydrug-use (5). The sponsors were unpaid, and had no history of addiction problems.ResultsSupport perceived to be ineffective emerged in dyads with no operationalized goal, and high emotional availability with low degree of practical support. Support perceived to be effective was signified by the sponsor attending to power imbalance and the addict coming into position to help others and feel useful.ConclusionsThe findings appear best understood as a positive identity-model of recovery, indicated by the pursuit of skill building relevant to a non-drug using identity, and enabled by the on-going availability of instrumental support. This produced situations where role reversals were made possible, leading to increased self-esteem. Social support programs should be based on a positive identity-model of recovery that enable the building of a life-sustainable identity.

Searching for Sobriety: How Persons with Severe Mental Illness Experience Abstaining from Substance Use

“…Troublesome states of abstaining were more prevalent in our study than in similar research on individuals who had not been diagnosed with SMI [25][26][27]. This may indicate that individuals with comorbid SMI and substance use are more vulnerable while in the state of abstinence than are individuals without SMI.…”

“…However, research on substance use by clients without the comorbidity of mental illness indicates that social support is important to changing behaviour successfully [25,26]. Clients claim that they benefit from interventions that address their multiple recovery issues as opposed to ones that emphasize recovery strictly in sobriety terms [27].…”

Risk factors associated with online game addiction: A hierarchical model

“…Decreased levels of self-esteem have also been reported to be associated with internet addiction and online gaming addiction (Bozoglan et al, 2013;Lemenager et al, 2013). Practical support together with positive role models for patients with drug or alcohol addiction could lead to successful recovery from such an addiction due to increased self-esteem (Johansen, Brendryen, Darnell, & Wennesland, 2013). Future studies should consider additional factors that can affect online gaming addiction including the type of gaming (offline, computer, console, apps, etc.…”

Practical Support Facilitates Recovery Processes in Professionally Organized Addiction Self-Help: An Explanatory Case Study

“…The analysis used the data, analyses, and previous findings from two separate and independent qualitative studies on members' experiences of recovery within the Step by Step program. These studies included one longitudinal, grounded-theory study on what makes a sponsor meaningful and useful (Johansen et al, 2013) and one participatory design study using multistage focus-group discussions for members to describe what they experienced as meaningful aspects of the program (Ness et al, 2013). The research was approved by the Regional Committee for Medical and Health Sciences Research Ethics and the Norwegian Social Science Data Services.…”

“…Groups that build upon the cultural heritage of AA do not, as a rule, have professional leaders (Humphreys, 2004), and the pressure that arises in this leadership vacuum can have therapeutic value because it stimulates members to take responsibility for their own recovery process. We and others have previously established that it is important for members to become helpful to others (Johansen, Brendryen, Darnell, & Wennesland, 2013;Pagano et al, 2009;Zemore & Pagano, 2008). To understand how the recovery processes are optimally supported, it is necessary to study the interaction between leadership at the vertical and horizontal levels within the program.…”