“A life more ordinary” Processes of 5-year recovery from substance abuse. Experiences of 30 recovered service users
Bjørnestad, Jone Ravndal; Svendsen, Thomas Solgård; Slyngstad, Tale Ekeroth; Erga, Aleksander Hagen; McKay, James R.; Nesvåg, Sverre Martin; Skaalevik, Alexander Waagan; Veseth, Marius; Moltu, Christian
Journal article, Peer reviewed
Published version
Date
2019-09Metadata
Show full item recordCollections
Original version
Bjørnestad, J., Svendsen, T.S., Slyngstad, T.E. (2019) “A life more ordinary” Processes of 5-year recovery from substance abuse. Experiences of 30 recovered service users. Frontiers in Psychiatry, 10:689, 1-9. 10.3389/fpsyt.2019.00689Abstract
Background: Studies investigating the subjective experiences of long-term recovery from substance use disorder are scarce. Particularly, functional and social factors have received little attention.
Objectives: To investigate what long-term recovered service users found to build recovery from substance use disorder.
Material and Methods: The study was designed as a phenomenological investigation subjected to thematic analysis. We interviewed 30 long-term recovered adult service users.
Results: Our thematic analysis resulted in five themes and several subthemes: 1) paranoia, ambivalence and drug cravings: extreme barriers to ending use; 2) submitting to treatment: a struggle to balance rigid treatment structures with a need for autonomy; 3) surrendering to trust and love: building a whole person; 4) a life more ordinary: surrendering to mainstream social responsibilities; and 5) taking on personal responsibility and gaining autonomy: it has to be me, it cannot be you.
Conclusions: Our study sample described long-term recovery as a developmental process from dependency and reactivity to personal autonomy and self-agency. The flux of surrendering to and differentiating from authority appeared to be a driving force in recovery progression. Participants called for treatment to focus on early social readjustment.