This issue has a focus on treatment and recovery, in keeping with the overall mission of the Alcoholism Treatment Quarterly (ATQ). Aspects of recovery are explored in community, treatment, and group settings. The varieties of the recovery experience emerge from the articles in this issue.
Best and his colleagues present a very hopeful picture of a recovery community where persons who are recovering find employment, housing, and a supportive environment in a building program. The need to address smoking cessation in an addiction-recovering community is addressed by White and his coauthors as they describe a very successful nicotine cessation program within a residential treatment setting in Iran. Motivation and nicotine replacement therapy are important elements of this program, An Italian study, conducted by Pivetti and others, traces the effectiveness of Clubs for Alcoholics in Treatment (CAT) in maintaining sobriety and quality of life among the club members. Fulton and her colleagues show how clinical supervision can improve the quality of gatekeeping in treatment settings through developing an ability in counselors to address assessment, remediation, and dismissal. The ability of exercise to improve the quality of life in patients with severe alcohol problems is described in the German study by Giesen and others. This study is commendable as it addresses ways in which life experiences can be improved for persons with physical impairments resulting from their addictions. Helm presents an understanding of emotional illness as a component of various addictions, based on an analysis of the testimony of persons in mutual help groups.
The Perspectives section provides meaningful insights into the history of addiction research provided by Bill Miller, the consummate historian of treatment research over the past 40 years. He describes the wisdom gained from the past, the challenges for the present, and the future in terms of evidence-based treatment, a menu of options, motivation, and fully integrated treatment initiatives that focus on individual needs. Kelly and his coauthors stress the need for consensus in avoiding discriminatory terminology, like “abuse” and “dirty” in describing the diagnosis of substance use disorders and of those who experience them. They make a case for precise and unambiguous clinical and scientific communication that are critical to public health and social policy.
The Corrigendum corrects an omission by Professor S. W. Henggler who, because of an oversight, failed to note his customary declaration that he is a board member and a stockholder in the Multisystem Services in an article appearing in the ATQ Vol 26, Number 1–2, 2008, pages 25–145.
Many aspects of recovery are covered in this issue. Hopefully the materials will be helpful in providing more effective treatment to persons and families experiencing substance use disorders.
Your comments are always welcome, together with suggestions for special issues of the ATQ that have been a feature of the journal since its inception.