Recovering Substance Abusers Research Articles

Raving as healing: an autoethnographic study into how raving can inform the use of dance movement psychotherapy in clinical work with substance abusers in recovery

The topic of raving has not yet been addressed in dance/movement psychotherapy (DMP) literature, despite being a meaningful activity shown to facilitate personal transformation. Whilst studies on rave culture have highlighted its therapeutic benefits, none of them focus on recovering substance abusers. This research identifies links between raving and DMP, looking at what each practice can offer this client group. Three key commonalities were identified whilst reviewing the literature on raving, DMP and substance abuse: strengthening spirituality, enhancing one’s sense of self, and creating a sense of belonging. Through analysing data from participant interviews, my embodied responses and my own experiences, five more were revealed. Findings from this study were considered for their relevance in DMP clinical practice.

Telling Stories of Recovery: A Narrative Evaluation of a Community-Based Drug Treatment Program

Community-Based Drug Treatment (CBDT) is a model for treating drug abuse that is designed to utilize community resources. However, few studies have reported its effectiveness based on the storied lives of the participants. We evaluated Katatagan Konta Droga sa Komunidad (KKDK), a 12-module CBDT program designed for low to mild risk users, using a narrative approach to demonstrate how this form of evaluation can enrich our understanding of program effectiveness. Themes that emerged from the narratives of seven recovering drug users who completed the program described the program’s strengths in terms of its ideological approach to treatment that is reconstructive and uplifting to their lives; the collaboration with facilitators, Local Government Units, and Philippine National Police officers; and its use of cultural resources that support recovery and change. We discuss the implications of these findings on the integration of the program with broader social and political initiatives to address the problem of drug abuse.

The Concept of Recovery and Temporality in Drug User´s Stories

Abstract: Background: Temporality and the embodiment of time is an important dimension in different recovery models, as well as in drug users’ recovery stories. Aim: The main objective of this article is twofold: first, to perform a critical analysis of prominent recovery models and their multiple temporalities, and second, to explore of how female drug users, enrolled in drug treatment, narrate their recovery process. Methods: The empirical data is drawn from a previous work, which focused on female drug users, their experiences of drug use, and of being enrolled in drug treatment. That study, which is now revisited, was designed as a qualitative case study based on semi-structured, tape-recorded, and transcribed interviews with 29 recovering drug users. Results/Conclusion: The findings in this study indicate the existence of different recovery stories – a therapeutic story, a cognitive one, and a twelve-step story. These stories embody differing motives and temporalities. In the process of developing new stories of themselves, the women in recovery reorder their narratives and open up to connect with the past and present, and thereby initiate a process leading to new interpretations of self.

Prison in Iran: A Known UnknownN.R.Anaraki. Cham, Switzerland: Palgrave Macmillan (2021) 117pp. €106.99hb; €85.99e‐book ISBN 978‐3‐030‐57169‐6; 978‐3‐030‐57169‐9

<i>Prison in Iran: A Known Unknown</i>N.R.Anaraki. Cham, Switzerland: Palgrave Macmillan (2021) 117pp. €106.99hb; €85.99e‐book ISBN 978‐3‐030‐57169‐6; 978‐3‐030‐57169‐9

Effects of Sex and Estrous Cycle on the Time Course of Incubation of Cue-Induced Craving following Extended-Access Cocaine Self-Administration.

Cocaine addiction is a devastating public health epidemic that continues to grow. Studies focused on identifying biological factors influencing cocaine craving and relapse vulnerability are necessary to promote abstinence in recovering drug users. Sex and ovarian hormones are known to influence cocaine addiction liability and relapse vulnerability in both humans and rodents. Previous studies have investigated sex differences in the time-dependent intensification or “incubation” of cue-induced cocaine craving that occurs during withdrawal from extended-access cocaine self-administration and have identified changes across the rat reproductive cycle (estrous cycle). Female rats in the estrus stage of the cycle (Estrus Females), the phase during which ovulation occurs, show an increase in the magnitude of incubated cue-induced cocaine craving compared with females in all other phases of the estrous cycle (Non-Estrus Females). Here we extend these findings by assessing incubated craving across the estrous cycle during earlier withdrawal periods (withdrawal day 1 and 15) and later withdrawal periods (withdrawal day 48). We found that this increase in the magnitude of incubated craving during estrus (Estrus Females) is present on withdrawal day 15, but not on withdrawal day 1, and further increases by withdrawal day 48. No difference in the magnitude of incubated craving was observed between Males and Non-Estrus Females. Our data indicate that the effects of hormonal fluctuations on cue-induced cocaine craving intensify during the first month and a half of withdrawal, showing an interaction among abstinence length, estrous cycle fluctuations, and cocaine craving.

Family’s Role in Helping Drug Abuser Recovery Process

Background: The National Narcotics Board or Badan Narkotika Nasional (BNN) survey results found the prevalence of drug abuse in 2015 amount 42,900 people, and an increase of 20.84% in 2016, which amounted to 51,840 people. As a result of drug abuse, drug abusers often experience health problems both physically and mentally due to the influence of drugs or the environment that makes drug abusers depressed. One of the health treatments for drug abusers that can be done to motivate drug abusers is to provide family support. The family is a source of social support because, in family relationships, mutual trust is created. Objective: This research was conducted to determine how the family’s role based on Kroenke helped to recover the health of drug abusers from deciding to stop drug abuse. The government can later consider this research’s benefits in creating a family-based drug abuse prevention and recovery program. Methods: This study uses a review of international articles. The articles used are twenty articles published in the last ten years. Result: Research shows that the family’s role in helping recovering drug users’ health drug users’ health is different but still has the same goal. Support provided is based on the cause of individuals to commit drug abuse. Support could be provided in the form of assessment support, instrumental, informational, and social. A good family role’s functioning makes the recovery process more effective because an addict will feel motivated by their support. Conclusion: The research conducted that the family’s role is essential for the recovery of the health of drug addicts, providing a stimulus for change to stop drug abuse. The family’s ability and function in explaining the addict’s self-control varies according to how the response and the intensity of family support provided to the addict.

The role of reflective consequences in developing recovery capital for the recovering substance abuser population of Tehran city

The aim of this study is to explore the hidden dimensions of recovery capital as utilized among a sample of the recovery population of Tehran city. This qualitative study involved a sample of 27 available people, including different groups of recovering drug users and experts. In the semi-structured face-to-face interview, the focus was on the dimensions of recovery capital and contributing factors to recovery. The criteria proposed by Guba and Lincoln were applied for trustworthiness of the research data. After thematic analysis of the data, a total of 310 codes were identified. The theme extracted is the concept of reflective consequences of recovery capital, which has two main categories of passive (altruism, fear of losing existing possessions, fear of repeating past experiences) and persuasion (internal and external). The reflective consequences are the reproducers of recovery capital and can appear at all three individual, micro and mezo levels.

Defense Mechanisms and Self-Control in Recovering Substance Abuse Clients

The appraisal of defense mechanisms and self-control in recovery substance abuse clients in Malaysia is vital as it provides self-support for maintaining recovery. This study aims to investigate types of defense mechanisms in recovering substance abuse clients and its relation to self-control level. The study was carried out on 138 respondents. The respondents were randomly selected among recovering substance abuse clients in a rehabilitation centre. The data indicated that neurotic defence mechanisms (M=14.29, SD=3.93) are the most prominent among the respondents. Meanwhile, the respondents’ self-control scored at average level (M=47.03, SD = 8.76). There was a positive correlation between immaturity defense style and self-control (r = 0.36, p = 0.0). This study concludes that with continued treatment and support, they can remain in recovery and sober.

An Exploration of Aftercare Services for Female Drug Users

The number of female drug users has been on the rise in South Africa, with statistics reflecting a rise in the number of women who attend treatment centres annually. This article presents empirical data from a broader qualitative study which aimed to explore perceptions concerning the effectiveness of aftercare programmes for female recovering drug users. The main data source was transcripts of in-depth interviews and focus groups with both service users and service providers from a designated rehabilitation centre in Gauteng, South Africa. Framed within a biopsychosocial-spiritual model, this article explores the perceptions and meanings which the female recovering drug users and the service providers attach to aftercare programmes. The findings of the research outlined the range of factors promoting recovery, alongside noteworthy suggestions for improvement in aftercare services. While acknowledging multiple influences on behaviour, this article highlights the significance of these findings in planning and implementing holistic aftercare programmes.

“Someone Else’s Problem”: New Psychoactive Substances in the Online Hungarian Media

ABSTRACTMedia monitoring is an important method to inform public health and prevention services about emerging health issues, such as new psychoactive substances (NPS). This study assessed the portrayal of NPS in online Hungarian media in 2015 using qualitative content analysis. Hungarian online media considers the dealer to be the main cause of drug use, which is portrayed as a problem for youth, poor people, minorities, and rural populations. The point of view of the articles is externalized, and so is the solution offered by them. From the perspective of the police or using a biomedical approach, the articles suggest that drug use is an individual (someone else’s) problem, and the perspectives of insiders (such as users or addiction treatment professionals) are absent. The media portrays low socioeconomic background and the hopelessness of disadvantaged rural and mostly minority populations as the roots of NPS use, and misses the pressing incapability of health care emergency and drug treatment services to cope with the problem. The dominant portrayal of police raids is rarely counterbalanced by voices of active or recovering drug users or professionals in addiction treatment and harm reduction, who could offer a systematic solution to the apparent rapid spread of NPS use.

An Evaluation Model for Social Work with Substance Abusers

In this article, the research topic is to develop an evaluation model for social work with substance abusers. It is studied by presenting an example of how the evaluation process could be carried out in practice. The study has been implemented with the Department of Social Services and Health Care’s Centre for Recovering Substance Abusers in Finland (RSA Centre). The term “evaluation model” refers to a way of collecting client follow-up information and the way the information is used to develop social work practices. Firstly it is described, how the evaluation model was created at the RSA Centre. Secondly, some results are lifted up to show, what kind of information were used. Finally, it is discussed how the evaluation model should be developed further to support social work processes.According to the results, the social work evaluation is possible to carry out in the side of social work with substance abusers. The model helped professionals to clarify Centre's main focus in the field of social rehabilitation and social work with substance abusers. In the long term, the model could enable to gain information about social work effectiveness. Disadvantages of the model were that it took a lot of time and resources from social work, and that the direct benefits of the model may not be available until only after some time. Evaluation’s integration to the client database system should be studied more.

Establishing a ‘Corstonian’ continuous care pathway for drug using female prisoners: Linking Drug Recovery Wings and Women’s Community Services

This article outlines the findings from a rapid assessment of pilot Drug Recovery Wings (DRWs) in two women’s prisons and compares the DRW approach with work undertaken in Women’s Community Services (WCSs) commended by the Corston Report. The findings indicate that DRW1 was working more successfully in providing a ‘Corstonian’ approach than DRW2 and the reasons behind this are explored. The article argues that, while pockets of good practice such as WCSs and ‘Corstonian’ DRWs are to be commended, unless there is a continuous care pathway, modelled on Corston’s ideas for working with vulnerable female offenders such as recovering drug users, such work will be limited in its effectiveness. Ideas for how such a systematic approach might work will be outlined.

Developing an Experiential Definition of Recovery: Participatory Research With Recovering Substance Abusers From Multiple Pathways

ABSTRACTBackground: The What is Recovery? (WIR) study identified specific elements of a recovery definition that people in substance abuse recovery from multiple pathways would endorse. Objectives: To explain how participatory research contributed to the development of a comprehensive pool of items defining recovery; and to identify the commonality between the specific items endorsed by participants as defining recovery and the abstract components of recovery found in four important broad recovery definitions. Methods: A four-step, mixed-methods, iterative process was used to develop and pretest items (August 2010 to February 2012). Online survey recruitment (n = 238) was done via email lists of individuals in recovery and electronic advertisements; 54 were selected for in-depth telephone interviews. Analyses using experientially-based and survey research criteria resulted in a revised item pool of 47 refined and specific items. The WIR items were matched with the components of four important definitions. Results: Recovering participants (1) proposed and validated new items; (2) developed an alternative response category to the Likert; (3) suggested criteria for eliminating items irrelevant to recovery. The matching of WIR items with the components of important abstract definitions revealed extensive commonality. Conclusions/Importance: The WIR items define recovery as ways of being, as a growth and learning process involving internal values and self-awareness with moral dimensions. This is the first wide-scale research identifying specific items defining recovery, which can be used to guide service provision in Recovery-Oriented Systems of Care.

The potential of prisons to support drug recovery

Purpose – Recovery is the predominant discourse within current UK drug policy, promoted as freedom from dependence. In support of such a policy driver, prison drug recovery wings have been piloted in ten prisons in England and Wales to address high drug prevalence rates in prisoner populations. The purpose of this paper is to explore the development of these specialist wings within the context of wider developments to tackle reoffending among drug-using prisoners. Design/methodology/approach – The first part of the paper offers an analysis of the emergence of the recovery paradigm in the prison context through analysis of official policy documents. The second draws predominantly upon two process evaluations of the drug recovery wings, alongside literature on prison drug treatment. Findings – There is limited empirical evidence to inform the debate about whether prisons can provide settings to facilitate recovery from the effects of illicit drug use. What is available suggests that effective therapeutic environments for recovering drug users could be established within prisons. Key components for these appear to be sufficient numbers of staff who are competent and confident in providing a dual role of support and discipline, and a common purpose of all prisoners committing to recovery from illicit drugs and supporting each other. Further research regarding the impact of drug recovery wings upon health, crime and wider social outcomes is needed. Originality/value – This paper provides an updated perspective on the development of drug treatment in prisons, with a particular focus on the implications of the new recovery paradigm.

De-Demonizing the ‘Monstrous’ Drug Addict: A Qualitative Look at Social Reintegration Through Rehabilitation and Employment

Few studies explore how employers perceive the experience of hiring recovering substance abusers. Qualitative, semi-structured interviews were conducted with employers who hire clients from a residential drug treatment facility for adult males in a capital city in the southeastern United States as well as several administrators that work at this facility. The emergent themes uncovered through these interviews shed light on the opinions of those who refuse to abandon a population of individuals who have been neglected by so many others. The research participant insights shed light on the fact that when overcoming drug addiction and abuse, getting sober is only half the battle. These individuals are then left to fight against the labels and stigmatization cast upon them by society. Information gleaned from these interviews may offer employers who may consider hiring ex-offenders, insights into potential benefits and problems they may encounter in working with this population. The findings of this study emphasize the damning effects of labeling on the social reintegration of those desperate for a second chance at being productive members of society.

The Use of Self-Disclosure: Lived Experiences of Recovering Substance Abuse Counselors

This phenomenological investigation explored the lived experiences of recovering substance abuse counselors regarding their use of self-disclosure of their personal histories of addiction with clients in counseling for substance abuse–related issues. A total of 10 recovering counselors were interviewed and asked to describe in detail their uses of self-disclosure, changes in frequencies, amount, and rationale for use or nonuse of self-disclosure. The interviews were analyzed for patterns in recovering counselors' lived experiences related to self-disclosure, and themes related to rationale for and against the use of self-disclosure, benefits, and drawbacks of self-disclosure were identified.

A Metaphor Analysis of Recovering Substance Abusers’ Sensemaking of Medication-Assisted Treatment

In this study, we examined metaphors invoked by people recovering from opioid dependence as they described the challenges and successes of using medication-assisted treatment. Metaphors provide linguistic tools for expressing issues that are confusing, complex, hidden, and difficult to state analytically or literally. Using data from eight focus groups with 68 participants representing four ethnic minority groups, we conducted a grounded analysis to show how recovering substance users communicatively constructed addiction and recovery. The primary medication, methadone, was framed as "liquid handcuffs" that allowed those in recovery to quit "hustling," get "straight," and find "money in their pockets." Nonetheless, methadone also served as a "crutch," leaving them still feeling like "users" with "habits" who "came up dirty" to friends and family. In this analysis, we tease out implications of these metaphors, and how they shed light on sensemaking, agency, and related racial- and class-based structural challenges in substance abuse recovery.

Mandatory assessment of drug users in Malaysia: Implications on human rights

Aim: The study is founded upon a critical analysis of the extent to which the mandatory drug assessment in funneling drug users under Malaysia's compulsory treatment and rehabilitation programme is consistent with the principles of human rights guaranteed under the Malaysian Constitution.Method: Empirical qualitative data from a case study encompassing direct observations of natural sites, a focus group comprising former and recovering drug users, secondary data from official documents and case files.Results: Findings show that the mandatory drug assessment of drug users is subject to arbitrary arrest, unnecessary prolonged detention, lack of medical assistance and non-compliance to due process.Conclusions: The mandatory drug assessment of drug users in Malaysia entails serious infringements of the principles of human rights.

Cocaine Hydrolase Gene Therapy for Cocaine Abuse

Rapid progress in the past decade with re-engineering of human plasma butyrylcholinesterase has led to enzymes that destroy cocaine so efficiently that they prevent or interrupt drug actions in the CNS even though confined to the blood stream. Over the same time window, improved gene-transfer technology has made it possible to deliver such enzymes by endogenous gene transduction at high levels for periods of a year or longer after a single treatment. This article reviews recent advances in this field and considers prospects for development of a robust therapy aimed at aiding recovering drug users avoid addiction relapse.

Interception of Cocaine by Enzyme or Antibody Delivered with Viral Gene Transfer: A Novel Strategy for Preventing Relapse in Recovering Drug Users

Recent progress in enzyme engineering has led to versions of human butyrylcholinesterase (BChE) that hydrolyze cocaine efficiently in plasma, reduce concentrations reaching reward neurocircuity in the brain, and weaken behavioral responses to this drug. Along with enzyme advances, increasingly avid anti-cocaine antibodies and potent anti-cocaine vaccines have also been developed. Here we review these developments and consider the potential advantages along with the risks of delivering drug-intercepting proteins via gene transfer approaches to treat cocaine addiction.