What Is Recovery in Alcohol Use Disorder?

Whether it’s replacing items stolen during addiction or fulfilling other responsibilities, concrete actions demonstrate fidelity to the recovery journey. Addiction profoundly alters the emotional landscape of relationships, leading to significant trust issues and heightened conflicts. This often results in emotional distance between partners, family members, and friends.

Stage 4: Action

A licensed medical practitioner may administer other drugs designed to help limit the effects of alcohol withdrawal syndrome during the detoxification process, and the sufferer may also begin the rehabilitation program at this time. If you or a loved one is struggling through the process of alcohol recovery, our admissions navigators are just a phone call away. Call our hotline at to discuss further treatment options and get the information you need to continue your journey on the road to recovery.

Most Commonly Used Drugs Exposed

• In contrast, alcoholics may abstain for periods of time without help but in most cases will inevitably return to their previous drinking patterns.
• It’s a disease that typically develops gradually over time as a person drinks more and more regularly, which causes chemical changes to occur in the brain.
• The review begins with a brief summary of prior reviews (published through 2014) of SUD continuing care research.
• Growth in these areas facilitates recovery, but they are difficult to measure in research or clinical settings.

Future work is needed to ascertain whether reduced alcohol consumption and remission from AUD symptoms are essential elements in defining recovery or whether a strengths-based model that focuses on well-being and functioning is sufficient to characterize recovery from AUD, or if some combination of relative emphasis on these two broad domains is optimal. There were no differences between the groups in reductions in drinking, housing stability, or mental or physical health. In contrast, as noted above, the DSM-5 definition of remission is based solely on not meeting symptoms of the disorder and does not consider alcohol consumption. In one study, patients with clinically elevated depression scores had better drinking outcomes if their therapists had a low focus on painful emotional material, and worse outcomes when the therapist was more focused on such material.61 Therapist focus on emotional material did not predict drinking outcomes in patients who were not depressed. Therefore, in addition to proceeding with the further development and evaluation of innovative continuing care interventions and methods of intervention delivery, much more attention should be devoted to improving the therapeutic skills of providers and studying the process of change within continuing care sessions. There is a great deal of heterogeneity in how individuals respond to SUD treatment, including continuing care.4 Even with the most effective interventions, a significant percentage of patients will not exhibit a strongly positive response.

The Importance of Celebrating Milestones in Recovery

• Our recovery programs are based on decades of research to deliver treatment that really works.
• And by permitting non-heavy drinking as progress toward a successful outcome, it recognizes that recovery is an ongoing process.
• The search terms included substance use disorder, addiction, drug use disorder, alcohol use disorder, continuing care, aftercare, stepped-care, treatment outcome, efficacy, effectiveness, and cost-effectiveness.
• Medications are provided to ease the symptoms, and physicians monitor people’s vital signs and overall health.

These conceptualizations of recovery, including that of the authors, differ from the Betty Ford Institute Consensus Panel, which requires abstinence. Similarities across definitions of recovery shown in Table 1 indicate that alcohol recovery is a process that is dynamic and focuses on improvement of health and wellness. Definitions differ with respect to the inclusion of language pertaining to abstinence or changes and improvement in biopsychosocial functioning and purpose in life. Recovery is a process through which an individual pursues both remission from alcohol use disorder (AUD) and cessation from heavy drinking1. An individual may be considered “recovered” if both remission from AUD and cessation from heavy drinking are achieved and maintained over time. For those experiencing alcohol-related functional impairment2 and other adverse consequences, recovery is often marked by the fulfillment of basic needs, enhancements in social support and spirituality, and improvements in physical and mental health, quality of life, and other dimensions of well-being3.

Others in the precontemplation stage may feel hopeless and helpless about their situation or overwhelmed by the energy required to make a change. Alcoholics may even lie and blame others, rather than their addiction, for their problems. They usually resent suggestions that they should seek help or change their behavior.

The Journey of Self-Trust and Accountability

Recovery from alcohol use disorder (AUD) is about more than avoiding alcohol. It calls for life changes that include finding the reasons why alcohol became so important in your life and figuring out healthy ways to manage those things. Some individuals with drinking problems are able to stop drinking effortlessly and permanently without craving or obsessing about alcohol. They may not have been alcoholic in the first place, but instead are heavy or problem drinkers (see my past post on differences https://appsychology.com/living-in-a-sober-house/ between social drinkers, problem drinkers, and alcoholics for more information). In contrast, alcoholics may abstain for periods of time without help but in most cases will inevitably return to their previous drinking patterns. Explore the stages of alcoholism, understand its impact, and learn about effective treatment options.

• You also want to find activities to replace drinking, things you can turn to when cravings strike.
• It shows a genuine dedication to the relationship and allows both individuals to feel secure as they navigate the challenges of recovery together.
• Rather than hearing just to respond, listen to understand your loved one’s feelings.
• Official websites use .govA .gov website belongs to an official government organization in the United States.
• Couples often find that emotional distress lingers even after substance use ends, underscoring the necessity for comprehensive treatment that includes sessions focused on improving communication and repairing relationships.

Tips for Families Dealing With Addiction

People often turn to alcohol or drugs to help them cope with anxiety, depression, abuse, and other problems. While in treatment for alcohol addiction, people can get help with other conditions and problems, as well. If a person is diagnosed with a mental health condition in rehab, he also has the option of getting dual-diagnosis treatment, which addresses mental illness and substance abuse. In the DSM-5, a diagnosis of AUD requires that an individual has at least two of 11 symptoms leading to significant impairment over a Living in a Sober House: Fundamental Rules 12-month period. These 11 symptoms include difficulty with controlling drinking, social and occupational consequences of drinking, medical consequences due to drinking, the development of tolerance (i.e., more alcohol is needed to obtain the same effect), and the occurrence of withdrawal symptoms when abruptly cutting down on drinking.

Indispensable Steps of Recovery from Addiction

The recovery process also signifies numerous lifestyle and biological changes (physical health) that are difficult to operationalize. It is critical that researchers and treatment providers develop a formal definition of recovery that has consensus among a wide group of those in recovery as well as those treating it. Thus, it is important to engage in research and clinical efforts that provide a foundation for operational definitions of recovery that reflect this process in order to improve our conceptualization of recovery. The development of more formal definitions of recovery will be of considerable interest to policymakers, who make decisions pertaining to quality of care for AUD services. The field is also starting to move toward more specific guidelines regarding the characteristics of high-quality continuing care. As discussed here, these guidelines likely will need to include information on adapting continuing care over time at the individual level to achieve optimal outcomes.

In their concluding remarks, the authors note that researchers and health care professionals will now be able to more precisely operationalize and measure recovery-related processes. This, in turn, will allow for more consistent and accurate comparisons across different research studies and settings. While the new definition should help standardize how we view and measure recovery, NIAAA expects to continue to refine it over time as research continues to improve our understanding of how aspects of well-being and biopsychosocial functioning, remission from AUD, and cessation from heavy drinking affect recovery. These studies generated little evidence on how to improve the treatment of patients with a drug or alcohol use disorder in primary care.

But the truth is that you are making progress on your recovery journey. Next comes post-acute withdrawal, with symptoms that are more emotional in nature. You might have a lot of anxiety, feel irritable, lose interest in life, go through mood swings, and worry that you won’t be able to have a successful recovery. You might feel fine for days or weeks, and then suddenly, they hit you like a tsunami. Discover effective treatment options and support for a life of recovery. Because recovery is a process of personal growth in which each stage has its own risks of relapse, treatment can offer an approach to reduce the risk of relapse.