NCJ Number
191937
Journal
Substance Use & Misuse Volume: 36 Issue: 11 Dated: 2001 Pages: 1409-1416
Date Published
2001
Length
8 pages
Annotation
This is an overview of a Special Issue of Substance Use & Misuse which examines the phenomenon of natural recovery (also called self-change) from substance abuse.
Abstract
Although self-change is a common route to recovery for cigarette smokers, it has been largely ignored for most other addictions. While there is now compelling evidence that many individuals change their substance abuse and maintain stable recoveries without participating in interventions, those findings contradict conventional wisdom and the disease perspective that treatment is necessary to recovery. The articles in this journal address the change process from several different perspectives: cross-cultural, prevention, and individual and societal level interventions. They offer varying strategies and suggestions for how healthcare practitioners and government policymakers can foster self-change as well as aid the design of new interventions. The articles have two themes in common. First, when self-change occurs several factors influence the initiation as well as the maintenance of change. And second, the articles call for continued research that can lead to new interventions that can benefit those individuals who have not recovered. References