How Recovery After Treatment Is More Common Than No Recovery After Treatment
When 44 percent of Americans reportedly know someone who is addicted to prescription painkillers—and when one in five of these same Americans say the person is a family member—addiction is lamentably common in this country. But what many don’t know is that recovery, following treatment, is actually more common than addiction that goes unabated
. See
What’s the Success Rate of Alcohol Recovery? for more information as it pertains to alcohol treatment.
A 2006
USA Today/HBO Family Drug Addiction poll, undertaken by Gallup, surveyed Americans with a family member affected by drug or alcohol abuse, and found that:
- The “vast majority” of poll respondents whose family member sought treatment—82%—said their family member got better after treatment. 38 percent of these same family members in recovery made “a complete recovery.” By contrast, just 14% showed no improvement after treatment.
- More family members with addiction had recovered than family members who had not, according to survey respondents (41 percent of whom said their loved one recovered, as opposed to 30 percent of whom said their family member had not recovered).
How Medication-Assisted Treatment Is Making a Positive Difference in Communities
While deaths from overdose often get more attention in today’s opiate epidemic, what often goes overlooked is how
Medication-Assisted Treatment (MAT) is reducing rates of overdose in some communities across the country. One case in point, cited in a recent article in the New England Journal of Medicine, is the city of Baltimore. There the introduction of MAT (such as buprenorphine) for opiate use disorders cut the overdose rate in half. Elsewhere, too, MAT has decreased opiate use and opiate-related overdose deaths, boosted retention in treatment, and lowered criminal activity and infectious disease transmission, by the account of the National Institute on Drug Abuse.
The Positive Benefits of Recovery to Your Community – More Volunteerism, Less Crime and a Lower Burden on the Healthcare System
If families and communities have much to lose from the ravages of addiction, they also have much to gain from the contributions of those who make a comeback from substance abuse—starting with the significantly higher rate at which people in recovery give back to their community through volunteerism and service. Consider, for example, the following finding from a
“Life in Recovery” survey by the U.K.-based Sheffield Hallam University:
People in recovery are almost twice as likely to volunteer as other members of the public. Roughly 8 out of 10 people in recovery reportedly volunteer in community or civic groups, in contrast to only 4 out of 10 people from the general population who say they regularly volunteer in such groups.
These results are consistent with the Beach House experience. During treatment, clients learn early on that giving back to their community is critical to successful recovery, via exposure to
local service opportunities like Loggerhead Marine Life Center and its rescue and rehabilitation of endangered sea turtles. Many of our clients, upon graduation from treatment, go on to serve their communities in various ways. Why? Because they have come to understand that local community involvement and service are intrinsic to successfully overcoming an addiction.
The Sheffield-Hallam study also found that people in long-term recovery (five years or more) have less involvement with healthcare services and the criminal justice system.
How Recovery Makes a Positive Difference in the Workplace
Steady employment is another more obvious measure of how recovery positively impacts both families and communities. The Sheffield-Hallam survey found that 74 percent of those in recovery report they have maintained a stable job.
For clients who come through our drug and alcohol programs at Beach House Center for Recovery, the treatment outcomes are similarly encouraging: an independent third party found that 62 percent of our alumni were either steadily employed or in full-time school following treatment. (You can find more of our treatment outcomes here
How Recovery Strengthens Families
Recovery is evidently also good for families, according to the results of the Sheffield-Hallam survey:
- 39.4% of families with an active drug or alcohol user in their midst experience domestic violence, but this number drops to only 7 percent when that user is in long-term recovery.
- 12% of those in recovery said they had been reunited with their children as the result of their stable recovery.
Studies have shown
how family therapy can boost long-term recovery. This more recent data into how recovery strengthens family relationships suggests that the investment in a loved one’s recovery can have exponential pay-offs.
See also the following related articles in our Learning Center:
