Have you ever wondered how we can define recovery?
What are the common traits that work for most people?
The project, “What is Recovery?” is a project that was started in August 2010. It has been a four-year study on what recovery really means. Some people believe recovery is being completely sober from all drugs and alcohol. Other people don’t necessarily agree.
Most of the information has come from scientists and research panels. This study is different. The information in the study is based on people who live and experience recovery every day.
As you probably know, people who have successfully changed are too often invisible, which leaves the larger community are in the dark about what recovery really means. This only leads to more stigma and shame for those seeking a better life.
Communities at large usually only see the problems connected with drug or alcohol abuse. They are rarely able to see the positive aspects of someone who is in recovery.
The What is Recovery? project is now sharing the results from their study, which helps define recovery for all of us.
Recovery is an acceptance that your life is in shambles and you have to change it.” ~ Jamie Lee CurtisThe Project
Dozens of people were interviewed about their personal definition. They surveyed people from 12-step groups, other support, treatment, medication-assisted recovery, moderation, and doing it on your own. They also looked at websites and books.
Through interviews and more surveys, they reduced 167 potential items down to 47. They asked 238 people their opinion about what definitions belonged.
Next, almost 10,000 people in recovery from different pathways weighed in on whether these were definitions that they agreed with. After more surveys and more analysis, they were left with 39 items to represent the elements of recovery.
The Results
This project has taken four years. After waiting until the main paper appeared in the press, they were able to share their results. Based on the results of the 9,341 people who completed the online survey from different pathways, there is now a very specific way to define recovery.
There are many positive “ways of being” that define recovery. Here are a few examples of what recovery looks like:
Recovery is …
… being honest with myself
… being able to enjoy life without drinking or using drugs like I used to
… living a life that contributes to society, to your family or to your betterment
… being the kind of person that people can count on
… about giving back
… striving to be consistent with my beliefs and values in activities that take up the major part of my time and energy.
Different Views
Different views were included in the final recovery definition. At the Recovery Definition page, you can read the complete list of 39 items which represent the elements of recovery.
William Moyers (from the Betty Ford/Hazelden programs) has written an article about how he is going to use the definition in connection with his view that addiction is a chronic disease.
Be sure to share the survey results from the What is Recovery? project. Consider sending an email to your friends or family with a link to their study website. You can also share on social media or your website.
The hope is that these results can be used to reduce the stigma associated with addiction and recovery, by highlighting the positive aspects that define recovery.
The article was based on information originally published in the journal article listed below.
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. www.jsad.com/jsad/link/75/999.
Reprinted with permission from Alcohol Research Documentation, Inc., publisher of the Journal of Studies on Alcohol and Drugs (www.jsad.com).
What does recovery mean to you? Please leave your thoughts in comments.
Thank you for sending this information to me. I will keep this and go back to it when it applys to my daughter’s situation. At the moment she isn’t even close to recovery
I know that is hard as a parent to watch, Michelle. Don’t lose hope. There are so many who have made tremendous change in their lives and you daughter can too! Thank you for stopping by and sharing your thoughts!
Hey Cathy,
Good stuff! I hadn’t seen this report yet so that’s for bringing it to our attention. I hope and pray its contents are useful and essential to those delivering the hopeful message of recovery AND those hearing the message.
You are really pushing out fabulous content these days! Keep it up!
Hey Beth,
I found it so interesting as well. I love the idea that recovery is not the same for everyone. We all have our opportunity to make our lives better! Thanks for stopping by!
Hi, beautifully written, this is very informative and definitely helpful, there are a lot of people out there waiting for something like this, recovery is a process, it takes time and with the help of people like you, it will be done. I’ll be sharing this with my social network friends. Thank you so much.
Thanks for sharing the info., Sherill. The study is important in that it gives real insight into what recovery is, which is something new. Take care.
Thanks for the great info, Cathy. You always find and share the good stuff. Don’t know how we can embrace and encourage recovery if we don’t have a working definition. Now we do, and it’s the best possible definition because it comes from those in the trenches. Reliable subjects, I’d say.
Stay on it, Cathy. You provide great assistance to those very much in need. Thank you…
Bill
Appreciate your kind words, Bill. It does help to have a more clear definition, that is for sure.
I agree, Cathy, family recovery is just as important. Something I’d add as a family member is that my recovery finally gave me back “me.” Over the course of my years of therapy, research and recovery work, slowly I got to the place where I could decide whether whatever I was facing was something I wanted to do and not something I should do or if I did would help or …. Sounds selfish, I know, but it was so strange and has been so liberating. Of course, getting to this place, involved things others shared, like “being honest with myself” and “striving to be consistent with my beliefs and values in activities that take up the major part of my time and energy.” Thanks for another great post, Cathy!
Love this line, Lisa – “…family recovery is just as important. Something I’d add as a family member is that my recovery finally gave me back ‘me.'” It is liberating to know that you have choices in life.
Very interesting project, Cathy. Looks like the crowd-sourced the definition of recovery based on people’s experiences and lives. Projects like this and your blog continue to bring addiction and recovery to everyday people so it loses it’s taboo and stigma.
Thanks for sharing.
The more we bring addiction and recovery out into the open, the better for all. There is such a stigma surrounding the topic and it holds people back from getting the help that they need. Thanks for stopping by Vishnu and sharing your thoughts.
Wow Cathy! What a great outcome to an interesting study. Recovery was defined excellently. Recovery isn’t about not drinking or being dry, recovery is about living!! It’s about giving back and being the whole person we were created to be. Your study was really inspiring. It helps both individuals in recovery and their family’s to better understand this evolutionary process. Hats off to you!! John, Life’s Journey
Hi John,
I agree that recovery of any kind is about living and not being stuck in unhealthy habits.
Thank you for sharing this amazing study! This subject has been a topic for me recently. Many individuals I have met along the way see things very black-or-white, with no open-mindedness about the shades of gray. So many people equate sobriety as recovery, and yet, I have witnessed many people who are “sober” displaying behaviors associated with and/or mirroring negative behaviors that accompany drug or alcohol misuse.
As I grow, and grow up, I soon opened my eyes to what recovery truly means–to me. Some mutual help groups focus so much energy on the number of days sober rather than the idea that some individuals bloom, change, or–RECOVER–from the grips of alcoholism.
Their lives become more than a meeting hall and encompass a life worth living. Negative behaviors slip away.
Thank you!
Great point Nora that there are shades of gray when it comes to recovery. Every situation is different. People find themselves struggling with substances for different reasons and each person’s recovery looks different as well. Thanks for your input!