Addiction recovery: A comparison of the perceptions of alcohol-dependent individuals and mental health professionals

This exploratory study was a quantitative study designed to examine the motivation for, and barriers to, recovery and/or treatment entry from the perspective of alcohol dependent individuals and mental health professionals. Specifically, this study sought to investigate the degree to which alcohol dependent individuals' and mental health professionals' perceptions regarding treatment entry are similar or different. Research has cited several reasons as to why individuals enter, delay, and/or avoid treatment. Tsogia et al. (2001) report that research on the reasons for or against entering treatment for alcohol and drug misuse is still inconclusive. Current literature that provides the view of mental health professionals' is limited. Moreover, research that compares the view of the addicted individual and mental health professionals is scant.;Survey data were collected from one hundred respondents from two convenience samples: individuals in recovery from alcohol dependence (n=50) and mental health professionals (n=50). Participants from the two samples were recruited through several methods including: flyers, professional contacts the primary researcher has in the mental health field, referral by counselors, and snowball sampling.;Demographic data were analyzed to determine whether there were similarities in the patient populations treated by respondents in the mental health professional group and respondents in the recovery group. Exploratory factor analysis with principal components analysis was utilized to examine respondent ratings from two surveys: motivations important to treatment/recovery and barriers to treatment/recovery. After identifying meaningful factors a total domain score for respondents on all items that loaded onto a given factor was calculated, and a comparison of median scores in the two groups was conducted.;Results of the study demonstrated that both individuals in recovery from alcohol dependence and mental health professionals identified recognition of the problem/desire to improve one's life as the most significant factor motivating treatment entry. In addition, results indicated that while in general individuals in recovery and mental health professionals shared similar views on the motivations to recovery, individuals in recovery viewed being court-mandated, hitting rock bottom, and becoming a parent as more significant motivating factors than mental health professionals did.;With regard to treatment barriers, results were shown to be consistent with previous research. While a statistical trend emerged in the current results indicating that individuals in recovery rated stigma as more significant than did mental health professionals, for both individuals in recovery and mental health professionals this domain was identified as the most noteworthy barrier. Similarly, while both samples identified failure to recognize the problem, or denial as it is often referred to as, as the second most common barrier individuals in recovery rated this barrier as more significant than did mental health professionals. In contrast, those in recovery and mental health professionals similarly rated the importance of privacy concerns and practical and program-related barriers. Clinical implications and directions for future research are discussed.;Keywords: alcohol dependence, recovery, mental health professional, motivation, barriers.