La recuperación natural de la adicción al alcohol y otras drogas

Abstract

Natural recovery, or self-change, is not an isolated or rare phenomenon, is the preferred route of recovery among those who give up or reduce their use of alcohol and other substances, though it is not known whether there are wide variations in this improvement depending on the substance consumed or the addicts� cultural context. This dissertation examine the circumstances and determinants among Spanish-speaking alcohol and drug abusers from Spain and United States who had changed on their own, in terms of the antecedents and consequences related participants� recovery processes. Treated and self-changers from different addictions and countries were compared to achieve this objective. Advertisements, poster and other strategies were used in Spain and in Florida (USA) to recruit 83 individuals (29 self-changers from Spain, 25 self-changers from United States and 29 treatment-changers from Spain) who had had problems with alcohol and/or drugs, and who had been recovered for a year or more. Consistent with previous studies, those who had recovered through treatment had a more serious substance use history than those who changed on their own. Whit respect to self-change from different addictions, no differences in self-change�s determinants were found between self-changers who recovered from alcohol problems and those recovered from other drug problems. In the other hand, the main different found among Spanish-speaking self-changers it that self-changers recruited in Florida perceived high severity on their past substance problems compared to self-changers from Spain, anyway, both groups are very similar. These findings parallel those for non Spanish-speaking populations and suggest that factors related to the change process are cross-cultural. Lastly, cross-cultural studies with larger samples are needed to better understand what drives and maintains alcohol and drug abusers recoveries.