The importance of utilizing evidence-based practices (EBPs) has taken over health care in the medical, psychiatric and substance use treatment arenas (Institute of Medicine, 2001). Patients, insurance companies and other payors want to ensure that only treatments that have been shown to be effective through carefully designed research are being used. In some spheres, utilizing EBPs is becoming a requirement to continue to receive funding for the services that are provided. As a result of this wellspring, community treatment programs are being forced to implement such interventions.

Addiction professionals are painfully aware that addiction treatment is all too often followed by relapse, re-addiction and readmission to treatment. Of those individuals currently entering addiction treatment in the United States, 52 percent already have one or more prior admissions to specialty-sector addiction treatment, and 20 percent have three or more prior admissions (for those with opiates as a primary dependency, the figures are 74 percent and 42 percent respectively; OAS, 2007).

There are several promising applications of mindfulness to enhance recovery from alcohol and drug dependence and other addictions. This article explores several new trends and ways that meditation and mindfulness can be used to complement and help with recovery.

The Buddhist teachings (dharma) focus on the healing power of compassion. To recover from an adversity (i.e., addiction) gives one an opportunity to be more compassionate toward others as well as toward oneself.

From the Editor: Many professionals in the addiction and mental health fields and recovering people alike will tell you that spirituality played an important role in their recovery from addictive disease. Treatment centers and addiction professionals take great care to explain to their clients that spirituality does not have to include a religious component or belief in a higher power — for some, this is the embodiment of spirituality, whereas others have adopted a more secular approach toward spirituality.

This article focuses on a unique approach taken by a treatment center that has trained its staff to embrace spiritual and cultural diversity while using the 12-Step approach toward treatment and recovery. Behavioral Health of the Palm Beaches hosted a one-day conference entitled Spirituality Around the World: A Day of Spirituality and Cultural Diversity, which included a variety of approaches to the 12-Step model, including: Western Judeo-Christian; Buddhism; Judaism; and Islam. The presenters at the conferences have graciously offered to share their thoughts with the readers of Counselor Magazine.

Money plays an important role in compulsive and addictive behaviors. When someone suffering from an addiction runs out of resources, he or she may borrow, cheat or steal to feed the addiction. As a result, financial problems are a common consequence, and getting a handle on these problems is an important aspect of recovery. Sometimes, however, one’s relationship with money and financial behaviors becomes a problem unto itself. 

Money is the number one source of disagreement in the early years of marriage (Oggins, 2003), and a common area of conflict for couples (Dortch, 1994).  In a survey of 1,001 adults, 40 percent admitted they had lied to their spouses about the cost of a purchase (Medintz, 2004). Financial strain has been found to reduce overall relationship satisfaction (Vinokur, Price & Caplan, 1996); worsen symptoms of depression; lead to problems in performing one’s various roles in life; and difficulty with emotional functioning and personal health (Price, Choi &Vinokur, 2002). Financial problems also can have a negative impact one’s job performance (Grensing-Pophal, 2002).

For the past decade, I have penned articles for Counselor that called for a fundamental redesign of addiction treatment. That redesign would extend treatment from an acute — an ever briefer — model of biopsychosocial stabilization to a model of long-term recovery management. Through the support of the Northeast Addiction Technology Transfer Center, the Great Lakes Addiction Technology Transfer Center and the Philadelphia Department of Behavioral Health and Mental Retardation Services, I have completed a review of the scientific evidence supporting this recovery-focused transformation of addiction treatment and outlined the changes in clinical practice suggested by this research.

The findings and recommendations are now available in a 138-page monograph that includes a prologue by Arthur C. Evans Jr., PhD, an epilogue by Lonnetta Albright and Michael Flaherty, PhD, and more than 800 research citations. A free PDF of the monograph for downloading and hard copies for purchase are available at www.ireta.org.     

Addiction recovery is a constantly changing science. From its earliest medical beginnings in 1931 at New York’s famous Charles B. Towns Hospital (Kurtz 2008), to the emergence of Hazelden’s Minnesota Model almost two decades later in 1949 (Hazelden Foundation, 2008), treatment for alcoholism and other chemical dependency has continued to evolve.

For some time I’ve been cultivating the quality of mindfulness through my studies in Buddhism, the practice of meditation and yoga, and my day-to-day passage through life’s journey. As it’s become increasingly evident to me that living mindfully has profound implications for everyone in recovery, I am devoting this article to the topic of mindfulness in recovery.
What is mindfulness?