recovery is "a voluntarily maintained lifestyle characterized by sobriety, personal health, and citizenship."

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Abstinence from alcohol and drugs is just the starting point in defining "recovery" for people with substance abuse disorders, according to a paper in the October issue of the Journal of Substance Abuse Treatment (JSAT).

According to an initial definition developed by a panel of experts from the Betty Ford Institute, recovery is "a voluntarily maintained lifestyle characterized by sobriety, personal health, and citizenship." The panel's report appears as part of a special section of JSAT devoted to Defining and Measuring Recovery.

Although "recovery" is widely recognized as the goal of treatment for substance abuse disorders, there has been no widely accepted definition of what the term actually means. "Recovery may be the best word to summarize all the positive benefits to physical, mental, and social health that can happen when alcohol- and other drug-dependent individuals get the help they need," the expert panel writes.

The panel's report outlines some of the thinking behind key components of the definition. Sobriety -- meaning complete abstinence from alcohol and all other nonprescribed drugs -- is regarded as necessary, but not in itself sufficient for recovery. The panel suggests a classification to define the duration of sobriety: "early" sobriety between one month and one year; "sustained" sobriety, between one and five years; and "stable" sobriety, five years or longer. People in "stable" recovery are thought to be at lower risk of relapse.