How Many Recovery Attempts Does it Take to Successfully Resolve an Alcohol or Drug Problem? Estimates and Correlates From a National Study of Recovering U.S. Adults.
John F KellyMartha Claire GreeneBrandon G BergmanWilliam L WhiteBettina B HoeppnerPublished in: Alcoholism, clinical and experimental research (2019)
Estimates of recovery attempts differed substantially depending on whether the mean (5.35 recovery attempts) or median (2 recovery attempts) was used as the estimator. Implications of this are that the average may be substantially lower than anticipated because cultural expectations are often based on AOD problems being "chronically relapsing" disorders implicating seemingly endless tries. Depending on which one of these estimates is reported in policy documents or communicated in public health announcements or clinical settings, each may elicit varying degrees of help-seeking, hope, motivation, and the use of more assertive clinical approaches. The more fitting, median estimate of attempts should be used in clinical and policy communications given the distribution.