Defining Recovery

At the Hanley Center, there are seven domains which define recovery:

• Bio-Medical
• Bio-Markers
• Psychiatric
• Psychological (cognitive)
• Emotional
• Social
• Spiritual

Recovery is the experience (a process and a sustained status) through which individuals, families and communities impacted by severe alcohol and other drug (AOD) problems utilize internal and external resources to voluntarily resolve these problems, heal the wounds inflicted by AOD related problems, actively manage their continued vulnerability to such problems, and develop a healthy, meaningful and productive life (White, 2004).

Recovery…can take place with the resolution of the specific symptoms listed as diagnostic criteria. A second perspective on recovery derives from behavioral psychology…where recovery can also be defined in terms of observable, measurable responses to substance use, lending credence to recovery as a process defined in behavioral terms (Galanter, 2004).

Sobriety or abstinence is simply refraining from the ingestion of alcohol or other drugs. Recovery is the process by which the ingestion of alcohol or other drugs is recognized as problematic and avoided (Laudet, 2006).

Sustained reduction in alcohol and drug use; sustained increases in personal health and social function and sustained reductions in threats to public health and safety measured by Clinical Tracking; Database Monitoring; performance Indicator Monitoring; Outcome Evaluation and Quality Assurance (McClellan, 2003).